Light Casts a Shadow
by Magical Puttemtator
Summary: Before the Tenroujima Time Skip—Sting was a wandering lonesome 12-year old boy. The death of his dragon ultimately made him believe that he must never find happiness. Darkness closed his heart to the world, but when a fateful encounter in Hargeon forever changes his life... Lucy finds herself taking care of the young boy as she dreams of joining Fairy Tail.
1. Arc 1 -Sting-: Fateful Encounter

**A/N: **So umm... Hi Fan Fiction! To tell you the truth, this is my first story in this particular fandom. I've read so many other FT stories and this whole StingxLucy plot popped out of my head! I have a feeling that this story will even make those hardcore NaLu fans sit back in awe. :3 *MWHAHAHAHA—Cough*

**Genres:** This story also consists of Friendship, Humor, Drama, &amp; Adventure (Along with Romance &amp; Hurt/Comfort)

Fun Facts: X784 is one year after Lucy had run away from home (as stated in FT wikia). Hargeon is also the town where Lucy meets Natsu and later joins Fairy Tail.

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**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima does.

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_**LIGHT CASTS A SHADOW**_

✧. Arc 1 - [Sting]

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**Chapter 1: FATEFUL ENCOUNTER**

In the year X784, Sting Eucliffe was a twelve year-old boy aimlessly wandering around the continent of Fiore all by himself. He didn't know where to go. He had no dreams and goals whatsoever. The day he randomly approached the town of Hargeon would be the day he would never forget—the day he met 'Blondie'.

Hargeon, the fishing town, was the crossroads of all travelers. Hargeon is most famously known for its port and only ten percent of the entire population were mages. Sting wandered into a dark alleyway like a lost soul and accidentally bumped into a small group of shady men. He shrugged it off and continued walking away. He took a step forward, but was halted when a pair of strong hands gripped his scrawny shoulders.

"HEY!" The man's fingers dug into his skin, "When you bump into someone, you're supposed to say: _sorry_."

He wouldn't apologize.

_Never._

Sting looked away from the enraged man, uninterested, but was suddenly kicked into the wall. His back landed against the stony rough edges, and he slumped to the ground in a sitting position. The man directly lodged his foot into the wall, roughly missing the boy's face by a few inches. "No one bumps into the Bacchus Thieves Guild and gets away from it!" He hissed, "Aren't you going to apologize?"

The delinquents cracked their knuckles when the young boy refused to even acknowledge them, or show any signs of fear. Sting helplessly stared at the ground as they started beating him up to a pulp. They mercilessly kicked him in the gut and spit on him.

The leader positioned his foot atop of Sting's head, "What's the matter kid?" He mocked, "Aren't you gonna cry?"

"Tch." Sting clicked his tongue. His pride would never allow it.

"You're starting to piss me off, kid." He slowly applied pressure to his foot. It infuriated the band of thugs even more when the kid refused to show any signs of pain.

Sting merely closed his eyes and waited for them to stop. He could easily fend them off, but he vowed never to use his magic to hurt others again. Ever since the day he parted with his dragon, it was just too painful…

Suddenly, a young teenager came out of nowhere. She wore light traveling clothes and a short blue skirt stopping at her mid-thighs. Her blonde hair was tied into a side ponytail, pinned down by a blue ribbon. She waved a small golden key in the air, and chanted.

"Open—Gate of the Giant Crab: Cancer!"

A ding-dong noise resounded and a humanoid crab appeared from a magic circle. "How would you like your hair done today-ebi?" The crab snipped with a pair of scissors in each hand.

The thugs released Sting in shock and stared at the crab dumbfounded. Sting couldn't believe his eyes as well. _What the hell is that girl doing?_ He looked at her face, expecting to see a frightened expression, but was surprised to see her look so calm. "Did that crab just say 'ebi'?" One of thugs murmured.

The blonde teen sighed, "Cancer, we're in a middle of a fight. Make those jerks lose their dignity!"

"Okay-ebi." Cancer darted pass each of the thugs several times like a blur, and then dashed back to its owner.

The leader looked around trying to spot changes in the environment. He shrugged to his men, "Nothing happened—" Cancer snipped his scissors, ***SNIP* **and numerous tiny cuts appeared on each thug. What was even more eye-opening was that they were completely—

"BALD!" The grunts screeched. They squealed away in terror as they tried to cover their smooth, naked heads. The leader reached to feel his own luscious hair, only to have the same look on his face like the others. The blonde teen sprinted towards the large man.

"Lucy…" She muttered as she jumped high into the air, "KICK!"

She landed perfectly back onto her feet as he fell to the ground. She smiled back at her companion who nodded in return. "I shall take my leave-ebi." The crab disappeared.

Sting felt somewhat… _warm_ when Lucy turned to look at him with a huge grin spread across her face. Sting finally took a good look at the girl and noticed that she 4 or 5 years older than him. His eyes unconsciously shifted over to the fallen leader—his feet were stirring. A reflected light shined in his face as noticed a dangerous metal blade within the man's hand. The girl casually walked over to him, unaware of the danger.

"Are you okay—Kyaaaaaaaaaa!" Lucy screamed as the bald man grabbed her from behind. He wrapped his arms around the girl, with a dagger pointed directly at her neck. "You let your guard down!" he laughed maniacally.

Sting's body reacted by itself. Before he knew it, he rushed to the girl's side at the speed of light and launched himself at the bald man. Sting's hand blazed with a glowing, white aura and he slashed the leader with a holy strike, "**White Dragon's CLAW!**" The man choked on the air and withdrew his vicious grip on the girl, losing consciousness.

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.

.

"Are you okay? Were you hurt badly?"

Sting's eyes widened in shock when 'Blondie' ran up to him and examined his bruises. He felt the same weirdly warm sensation when she began feeling his wounds, but he kept to himself. He didn't trust anyone. He shoved her away forcefully, causing her to stagger backwards in surprise. She tripped on her own feet and stumbled into a puddle of muddy water.

Her butt kissed the cold wet ground as mud splashed all over her outfit.

"Why you…" Lucy glared at him murderously.

Sting cringed a little and eyed the blonde girl guiltily. Of course he didn't mean to, but no. He would never apologize, "I didn't need your help."

Lucy stood up, completely drenched. Her white shirt was now stained with mud. "You ungrateful, little brat… They were beating you up!" She pointed out the obvious, "You could seriously be injured! And now I'm all wet!"

"A strong mage like me wouldn't need help from a stupid _blondie _like you." He announced coldly.

He arrogantly walked away, expecting her to back off, but he instead felt someone roughly grab onto his hand. "Take me to your parents!" She huffed angrily, "You really need to learn how to treat other people with _respect_."

Sting didn't know why, but he allowed the noisy girl pull him away as she continued to scold him on and on. She brushed some of the dirt off her skirt, "… Geez this isn't going to come off easily… Now, where do you live?"

Sting uncomfortably looked away from her gaze, unsure of how to answer her question.

Lucy lost all her patience, "I asked you a question!"

Sting's stomach growled loudly, but he continued to look away, slightly embarrassed.

This didn't go unnoticed. Lucy paused to take a closer look at him— His uncombed spiky, blond hair jutted outward in every direction and the dirty T-shirt and torn pants he was wearing were falling apart. Feeling concerned, she looked deep into his ocean blue eyes and saw emptiness. Now that she really thought about it, he really did look like a homeless kid.

"Are you hungry?" She decided to ask with a soother tone in her voice.

Sting pulled away from her, not answering any of her questions. "Don't you dare pity me, you stupid _Blondie_!" he angrily spat out, avoiding to see the look in her eyes.

Lucy was about to retort back, but she hesitantly closed her mouth. She took the boy's hand again, and gently led him across the town.

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"Oi... let me go." He murmured.

Lucy didn't make a noise. There was only the sound of their footsteps as they roamed endlessly throughout the town.

"Where are you taking me?" He steadily focused his gaze on the ground. The awkward silence was starting to get on his nerves. When she didn't answer, he began to feel more anxious and nervous, "I-I'm warning you, I c-could kill you right now if I have to!"

Lucy remained silent and continued to pull him by her side.

Sting couldn't bear the eerie silence any longer. "Let go, you stupid Blondie!" He yelled, trying to yank his hand away from her.

Lucy abruptly stopped, causing him to look up at her. She looked at him with caring, brown eyes. "You don't have a home, do you?" She questioned. Sting gaped at her in shock as he stopped pulling his hand away. Her radiant smile eased him, "Don't worry, I've run away from home too."

The boy blinked in surprise. "Huh?"

"You're not alone anymore." She smiled as she gently poked his little nose with her finger. A small pink tinge blushed onto the boy's pale cheeks.

Lucy laughed as his face reddened. "I have lots of food at my apartment. I'm going to teach you how to treat people with respect." She winked.

Sting's eyes lit up at the mention of _food_, but she made him feel puzzled. He was torn between either running away, or following her. _It couldn't hurt just to stay a little bit_… _right? _"Whatever, Blondie." He rolled his eyes and tried to act annoyed.

Lucy smiled to herself, noticing that he dropped the 'stupid'.

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They walked into her small apartment and sat at the kitchen table. Lucy rummaged her fridge and gathered piles of food onto the table. Drool etched from the corner of the boy's mouth.

"Well?" She smiled teasingly, "Go ahead and dig in."

Sting didn't hesitate. He attacked the food right away. He chewed on the meat with his canine-like teeth. He crammed handfuls of food in his mouth aggressively, forgetting to swallow. Bits of food were flying everywhere as he noticed that the blonde mage was chuckling at him.

"What's so funny, Blondie?" He spat out with food in his mouth. He hated it when people were watching him, especially when he was eating. It felt like they were making fun of him.

"You're just so cute when you eat." She giggled.

Weak and innocent things, like small bunny rabbits, filled his mind. "I am NOT cute!" His lips tugged into a small pout. He was intrigued, stunned, and somewhat moved… No one had ever called him _cute_ before.

Lucy laughed as his ears reddened, "So what's your name?"

Sting planned not to respond to any of her questions. He couldn't allow himself to feel so attached to someone who thought that he was cute. It would only stir up trouble later if he stayed with this _Blondie_.

Sting ignored his thoughts about her and gulped down his food. He mustered all his willpower to concentrate on eating.

"My name is Lucy, by the way, so stop calling me _Blondie_. Don't you find it weird to call me 'Blondie', when you're blond too?"

The boy ignored her question, but she continued talking.

"May I ask where you are from?"

Sting stopped eating.

He stared forlornly at his food.

Realizing that she wouldn't get an answer from the arrogant boy, she let out a sigh. "I'm sorry, but did you run away too?" She asked cautiously, "As I mentioned earlier… I ran away from home. But, I'm old enough to take care of myself now, you see?" She crossed her arms and tilted her head, "It's just that… you're so young and you shouldn't be all alone by yourself at this age." She gave a guilty smile, "You should go back to your parents… They must be worried sick about y—"

"He's dead," Sting rose from his seat, his eyes shadowed by his messy blond hair. "I—I killed him."

_That's it. I crossed the line..._

Another dead-like silence bore between them. Before she even had the chance to speak, he ran over to the door and grabbed the handle. He just didn't have the courage to hear what she had to say.

Before he could rush out the door, he saw Lucy run over to him. A wave of confusion washed over his body as the celestial mage wrapped her arms around him tightly.

His hand released the door handle as he stood there, shocked by her tears. _She's not scared of me?_ He was confused. "W—why…?"

"When I was younger, I used to think like that too." She explained,"…Ever since my mom died, I always thought that it was my fault… and I blamed myself for everything—" Lucy clutched him even closer and they stared at each other face-to-face. "—but when I look at you… It's like looking at the Me from six years ago. You're not alone anymore!"

A new feeling awakened inside Sting. Something in him had clicked. After all those years of wandering alone in darkness, hunted by loneliness and guilt, he hadn't felt _it_ in years. The empty void in his heart. Not filled by darkness—but from the warmth of kindness from others.

A tear trickled down his cheek, without realizing it. Lucy immediately released her hug and started pulling on the ends of her hair a bit sheepishly. She laughed nervously, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked about all that."

_Why is she apologizing to me?_ He smirked at the thought. Then the corner of his mouth twitched a little. "… It's fine." He gave her a genuine smile.

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Lucy remembered that she had bought some old clothes that didn't fit her a long time ago. She rummaged her closet and found a white t-shirt, a sleeveless orange jacket, and some baggy pants. She caught the boy by surprise and tried to undress him. She lifted up his shirt, but he squirmed away defensively.

"H-hey!" He hugged himself, "I-I can change by myself!"

She burst in laughter as he blushed furiously. "It might be a little too big for you, but we'll get you some new clothes tomorrow in the morning."

Sting's face continued reddening, but stopped when he remembered that he couldn't allow himself to feel so attached. It would only hurt more if he decided to stay any longer.

"Yeah…"

"Ne, I forgot that you got me all wet… I'm going to take a quick shower." She walked into the bathroom and smiled deviously. "No peeking~"

"W-what makes you think I'd do that, Blondie!" He roared ferociously as she snickered from behind the door.

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Sting hesitantly took off his uncomfortable old clothes and put on the new ones that Lucy had given him. _They're so… soft._ Sting thought to himself, feeling the velvet-like interior brush against his skin.

He looked around the room and noticed all the novels and magazines lying around on the floor. He opened the one closest to him to a random page and saw two adults in a peculiar sight. The woman's hand was placed onto his heart, and the man was brushing her hair out of her eyes. They stared, transfixed by each other's gaze. Sting's eyes widened as he saw their lips touching.

He quickly shut the magazine and threw it across the room. His mind felt like it was internally scarred. He _did not_ need to see that. "Does that blondie really like that sort of stuff?" He asked no one in particular.

He threw himself onto the bed exhaustedly. He let out a huge yawn and noticed how extremely comfy it was. He laid his head on the pillow, and before he knew it, he couldn't pull himself back up.

_Blink._

His eyes dreamily floated around the room. His perfect vision was gradually becoming blurrier with each passing second. He decided that he would only close his eyes for just a few seconds, _and then_ he would get up again.

Minutes passed and he found himself deep in slumber.

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Lucy finally came out of the warm shower, dressed in some pajamas. She noticed that the boy was lying on her only bed fast asleep. The clothes she had given him fit him well. She had to admit that he looked too cute when he wasn't being so arrogant.

_Well, there's no way I'm sleeping on the ground, _she heaved a heavy sigh. She quietly stepped into her bed and tucked the boy snugly inside the warm blanket. Sting smiled in his sleep and unconsciously shifted closer to her. Lucy felt a warm feeling surge inside her chest, and she embraced him in his slumber.

She took her other hand and traced along the scar above his right eye. She felt the boy shudder from her touch, so she leaned closer to him. Their silhouettes bathed in the serene moonlight, steadily breathing ever so gently.

"…good night." She whispered inaudibly.

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**A/N:** D-did you like it? Was it too long, or too short? I'm freaking out as I'm typing this. Were the StiCy moments okay? I worked really hard on perfecting the story and it took me DAYS just to make the title cover in paint. ;c

Also, I found the perfect song that complements this story! It was a complete coincidence when I found it! Feel free to look it up on YouTube, it's really good~!

✦ Six Trillion Years and Overnight Story ✦ Cover by【Ashe】

I need all the support I can get! _~Magical Puttemtator_


	2. Mark of the Fairy

**A/N**: Hey FanFiction! My heart literally skipped a beat when I saw all the massive numbers. I was like O.O

Thanks you so much for leaving reviews! It totally made my day. Even one measly review gets me all excited! All those things you guys said made me feel so _fluffy_ inside! SO many people said it was 'CUTE'! And thanks for all the follows and favorites, they encouraged me to update as soon as possible. ^-^

I hope this chapter will make you feel happy!

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**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima does.

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**LIGHT CASTS A SHADOW**

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**Chapter 2: MARK OF THE FAIRY**

The sunrise appeared, lying upon the horizon. The light shone brightly through the windows, piercing through the dark shadows within the tiny apartment. Sting sat up in the bed and rubbed his eyes. This was probably the first time in months since he actually had a whole night's worth of sleep.

It took a while for his eyes to adjust to the cheery brightness of the room. He tried getting up, but he noticed that the blonde mage was sleeping right next to him. She was practically leaning on top of him with her chin resting atop of his shoulders. They only met the day before, but how could she trust him so easily to even sleep next to him?

Sting rolled his eyes, as he stared uneasily at the ceiling, _Why is that Blondie even sleeping next to me?_ Well, he was her guest after all. And it was her bed in the first place. Even though he was stuck with her ever since they had met, he had never come to the realization that she was _pretty_.

He listened, fascinated by how softly she breathed while sleeping. He felt uncomfortable lying next to her, so he tried sliding out of her grasp, but her warm embrace pinned him down closer to her. Unable to move, Sting found himself stuck in her arms, facing her large chest.

Sting didn't know why he felt so embarrassed, but he tried looking away. He instead found himself carefully observing her face, memorizing every single detail. It bothered him how the loose strands of her hair matted to her face, partially blocking his view. He unconsciously brushed aside her bangs to get a clearer glimpse.

He stared at her, dumbfounded by her beautiful complexion. He was completely absorbed; her warm breaths made him shiver. Her gentle touch made him feel so… out of it. He gazed at her, barely a few inches away from her face… Her eyes were gently closed and her mouth hung slightly open… He was only a centimeter away when her brown eyes suddenly shot open.

"Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" Lucy shrieked in terror and kicked the _trespasser_ into the wall upon instinct.

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Lucy helped Sting up into a sitting position as he massaged his head.

"This is why you need to learn how to treat people with _respect_." She scolded him, "If you invade other people's personal space, you'll end up with something _worse_ than a tiny bump on your head."

Sting had recalled being in worse injuries, but he had to admit that it did hurt a little when the blonde mage had kicked him into the wall. He didn't even know what he did so wrong. After all, she was the one who chose to sleep next to him.

Lucy clasped her hands together in excitement. "Oh, I completely forgot to tell you last night!" She squealed, "We got a lot of money for turning in that thug from yesterday!"

"Eh?"

"It turns out that the guy we turned into the town guard yesterday was actually the leader of some band that had been terrorizing this town! There are very few mages in Hargeon, so no one had been able to stop them."

"So we helped the citizens of the town?"

"Well yeah… But more importantly, I finally have enough money to buy a brand new gate key from the town's magic shop!" Lucy's eyes sparkled.

Sting felt his sweat drop as she slowly started drifting off into her own little world, chatting away. He remained sitting on the ground, watching her skip around the room as if she was dancing in a field of flowers. He usually had an incredibly small attention span, but he listened intently to her goal of becoming the greatest celestial spirit mage.

The idea of making friends with spirits who would never leave her side astounded him. Lucy treated her spirits as friends and not as tools for fighting. When she cried, they could feel her sorrow and when she laughed, they could feel her joy. With friends by her side, she never suffered alone.

Lucy finally stopped daydreaming and changed into her traveling clothes. She hummed happily out the door with a grin stretched across her face, "Let's go shopping!"

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Sting was forced to go on a mild shopping spree with Lucy, but it wasn't like he had anything better to do. He strode behind her with his hands inside his pockets as they finally exited the magic shop.

Lucy had managed to buy the gate key of the dog constellation, but when she tried seducing the shop keeper to lower the price, she miserably failed.

"He only lowered it by 1,000 jewel… Is that the most my feminine charm is worth?" Lucy angrily stormed ahead as Sting steadily paced behind her.

"We still have plenty of money left." Sting reminded her bluntly.

"Yeah, but only 1,000 jewel?!" Lucy retorted with a vein popping out of her head, "That guy wouldn't know true beauty if it slapped him across the face—"

Sting continued walking behind her, ignoring her noisy rant, until a bunch of stupid girls sprinted past them, squealing.

"The famous wizard is here!"  
"Mr. Salamander!"

Sting looked at Lucy a little confused, but was surprised to see her staring off into space again._ Well, talk about mood swings…_

"The Salamander?" Lucy thought out loud. Then a twinkle of excitement shone in her eye, "Wait, the famous wizard who doesn't use magic you can get in stores—He's in this town?!"

Sting didn't even have time to express his annoyance when she grabbed his hand and thrust themselves into the band of screaming girls.

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A mob of fangirls crowded around the old man.

"You're so dreamy!"  
"Please burn me!"

Sting eyed Lucy carefully. She was acting very strange when they saw the man with the flowing blue hair. When the man glanced in their direction, she practically fell to the ground, clutching at her chest. With his keen dragon-like senses, he swore he could hear her heart beating out of her ribcage, gradually becoming faster within each passing second. He didn't know why, but the way she stared at the old man was somehow making him feel extremely pissed.

"Oi, Blondie!" He tried getting her attention.

He pulled her away from the crowd, but she wouldn't budge. It was if she was transfixed to the ground or something. That old man obviously did something.

Sting watched as Lucy's eyes suddenly popped into hearts. She furiously started hopping towards the so-called 'Salamander'. _Okay, that's not healthy._ Sting had just about enough. He was about to charge through the mob of crazy fangirls and confront the old man, until someone beat him to it.

"Igneel!" A teenager with pink hair and a blue cat pushed through the crowd and stumbled towards the old man. There was an awkward silence as they stared directly at the man for a few seconds. He finally blinked, "Who are you?"

The man with blue hair jumped back in complete shock. He quickly flipped his hair to the side with his hand to recompose himself. A shiny gold ring on his finger reflected a bright light into Sting and Lucy's eyes. Sting sensed a weird tension in the air as he saw the hearts in Lucy's eyes shatter.

"Would the name 'Salamander' ring a bell?" the man smirked. He was dumbstruck when he saw the boy already walking away, completely ignoring him.

The fangirls glared murderously at the ignorant boy. They charged up to him and started beating him up to a pulp, until the Salamander suddenly announced that it was time for him to leave. The fangirls immediately forgot about Natsu and crowded around the man, begging him to stay. He laughed and invited everyone present to a party on his boat that night. He arrogantly smirked in Lucy's direction before flying away on a carpet made of flames.

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"Who was that guy?" Natsu rubbed his head.

"It turns out it wasn't Igneel after all." Happy sighed.

Sting followed Lucy as she went up to the guy with pink hair and waved to him. "That guy was a creep." She flashed a smile, "Thanks for the help."

Natsu stared at her, "Huh?"

_~And then~_

Lucy took them all to a nearby restaurant as a sign of thanks. Sting, Natsu, and Happy were chowing down all the food in sight. They had already finished over 50 courses.

"My name is Lucy," She forced a smile, "It's nice to meet you!"

Lucy watched the three of them eat away all her money. They were monsters…

She tried starting another conversation, "Umm, Natsu and Happy, was it?"

"You're really nice!" Natsu roared.

"Aye!" the blue cat echoed.

"Okay, just slow down a little," She laughed nervously as a piece of meat stuck to her face, "Stuff is flying everywhere…" _Well there goes all our reward money…_ She thought darkly.

"You see, that Salamander guy was using a charm spell." She explained, "It can attract people to the holder, even against their will. But I broke free from the spell thanks to you guys barging in! So this is my thanks."

The only way to break free from a charm spell is to become aware of it. When the light, reflected from the Salamander's golden ring, flashed into Lucy's eyes, she noticed the charm and became aware of the spell, thus breaking free.

"Such a creep, using magic to become popular..."

"—I see."

"Believe it or not, I'm actually a wizard myself!"

"—Oh, yeah?"

"But I haven't managed to join a guild yet."

Sting stopped eating and turned to look at her with a puzzled look on his face. "What's a guild?"

"Oh, guilds are organizations where wizards gather to share information and find work. You can't be considered a full-fledged wizard unless you're in a guild…" She again stared off into space and clasped her hands in excitement, "There are lots of guilds around the world, but the one I want to join has a lot of strong wizards in it!"

Sting stared at his food again, _strong…_

Happy looked at the two blondes and noticed that the boy was much younger than the noisy girl. "Are you guys, brother and sister?"

Sting's gaze immediately shot up at the cat, "N-no, we're just—"

Lucy covered his mouth and laughed, "Yup, I'm his big sister!"

Sting was enraged. He dragged the blondie with him underneath the table. Natsu and Happy looked at each other and shrugged. They continued to stuff their faces with food.

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"_Why_ would you say that?" Sting whispered as he shot her a deadly glare.

"Now, now…" Lucy smiled innocently, "It's disrespectful to drag your Onee-_chan_ underneath the table."

"You're not my sister!" He roared, "You're just a… stupid blondie!" He stood up suddenly and bumped his head under the table. He massaged his head in pain.

"Aww, you're just so cute!" Lucy squeezed his cheeks. Sting flinched at the word 'cute'. "Ne, since you won't call me by my name, I suppose you'll just have to call me Onee-_chan_ from now on."

"Like hell I will, _Blondie_." He spat out.

"Onee-_chaaan_." She squeezed harder as she emphasized the word.

Sting rubbed his cheeks as they got up from underneath the table. Natsu and Happy were still munching on their food as if nothing happened. Lucy grabbed all her _precious_ reward money and set it on the table.

"Well, we should be going. Enjoy your food." Lucy and Sting began walking out of the diner.

Before they could exit the door, Natsu and Happy prostrated themselves on the ground before her, catching everyone's attention. "Thank you for the food!"

Her face flustered as she earned weird gazes from the other customers, "S-stop it, you're embarrassing me! It's okay, you helped me, so now we're even!" She took Sting by his hand and they rushed out of the diner.

"We weren't really trying to help her though..." Natsu sighed.

"Aye, I still feel indebted…" Happy said glumly.

They sat on the ground, still thinking.

"We'll pay her back somehow!"

"Aye!"

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Night had already fallen and Sting was sitting on a hill, overlooking the sea. Regret struck his face as he remembered the occurring events.

After they had exited the restaurant, he and Lucy were walking though the park until that Salamander guy jumped out of the bushes and confronted them. Lucy stated firmly that she was aware of his charm and the spell wouldn't work on her. However, that pervy old geezer was eavesdropping on their conversation about guilds. Once he mentioned Fairy Tail, she became dead silent. Lucy agreed to come to his boat party on one condition: He would put a good word for her in Fairy Tail.

Sting remembered when Lucy asked if he wanted to come onto the boat too, but what she didn't know about him was that he had extreme motion sickness. He told her that he just couldn't. She patted his head and he looked into her comforting gaze. _'This may be the only chance I get to join Fairy Tail!'_ She promised him he'd be back by the time the party was over.

He watched the large party boat float further and further away, but something wasn't right. The party should have ended already.

"Hey, it's you!" Natsu eagerly spotted him. He laughed heartily and sat next to him, "Say, where's Luigi? I thought she'd be with you."

"Luigi?" Sting eyed him weirdly, "Her name's Lucy…" His voice trailed off. The boat looked so much smaller from farther away.

"… Is something wrong?" Natsu asked.

Sting was reluctant at first, but talking with someone as easy-going as Natsu made him feel a little better. "It's just that…" Sting explained everything that had happened up to this point. When he finished, Natsu's grim expression frightened him. His shadowed eyes gleamed under his messy pink hair. He looked dead serious.

"Lucy's in danger." Natsu murmured.

_Danger._ Sting's eyes widened. A painful, numbing jolt took over his whole body. He couldn't feel his arms and legs. Lucy was in trouble, and he wasn't there to save her. He should have agreed to come with her, despite his motion sickness. If anything happened to her, it would be all his fault... It would be just like the incident with his dragon all over again.

Natsu ran his fingers through Sting's hair, stirring him out of his thoughts. He gave him a heart-felt smile, "Don't worry… I'll get her back!" Natsu leapt off the hill in the direction of the sea, "Happy!"

"Aye, Sir!" Happy sprouted wings and skillfully caught him in the air.

Sting could only watch in amazement as an ant-sized Natsu flew all the way to the boat on the horizon. Minutes passed and gigantic tidal wave sent the boat crashing into the shore.

.

.

.

"You're a Fairy Tail wizard?" Natsu glared at the Salamander.

"Yeah, so what?" The man smirked. He sent a full blazing fireball hurtling towards Natsu, "GIGA PROMINENCE!" The large flame completely enshrouded him, burning him to a crisp.

"Natsu!" Sting yelled, running onto the beach as Lucy placed her hands over her mouth. Happy snickered, which made the two glare at him furiously.

"Why are you laughing, you dumb cat?!" Lucy yelled, "Isn't he your friend?"

"I should have mentioned this earlier, but Natsu's a wizard too." Happy replied. "Fire doesn't work on him."

The fire dissipated as Natsu engulfed the flames. His coat was burned off, revealing a red emblem on his right shoulder.

"The mark of the Fairy…" Lucy's eyes widened.

Natsu glared at the false Salamander indignantly. "I am Natsu of Fairy Tail. And I have never seen you before in my life!"

"Wha—?!" The man stuttered in shock.

"Fairy Tail!?" She gasped, "Natsu's a Fairy Tail wizard?!"

"I don't care if you're a good guy or a bad guy… But I won't let you tarnish Fairy Tail's name!" His voice thundered.

Sting watched Natsu battle the old man with a newfound respect. His eyes lightened as he saw his brilliant flames sear against his opponent. He had finally had someone to look up to. He watched his new role model clash with flames clenched in each of his hands.

"Natsu-san…"

Natsu readied a final attack, "Fire Dragon's…" He fists blazed with fire, "**IRON FIST!**" The false Salamander was punched in the gut and sent flying into the town's bell tower.

"That was great…" Lucy stared in awe. Half of the town was already destroyed. "But don't you think he went a little overboard!?"

A squadron of the Magic Council's guards came rushing into the demolished town of Hargeon. Their suits of armor clanked in rhythm as they stomped up the streets. Amazed, Sting watched his new hero turn to look at him and Lucy.

"Crap, the Magic Council's here!" Natsu took both of their hands and swiftly dashed out of the town, "RUN!"

"EHHHHHHHHH?" Lucy stammered as she and Sting chased after him. "Why do _we_ have to?"

Natsu gave her a puzzled look, "You guys wanna join our guild, right?!"

Time seemed to slow down as Natsu turned to look at them. Lucy and Sting were breathless when his welcoming presence dawned upon them.

"Come on!" He smiled brightly.

Lucy and Sting turned to look at each other. A moment later, they started bursting in laughter. "Aye!" Happy cheered.

The four figures ran away from the town, laughing happily in the cool night air. This was just the beginning of a new adventure.

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**A/N**: So, do you think Sting will join Fairy Tail?

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I was sort of following episode one of fairy tail, so I couldn't really make it feel original. I apologize if this didn't turn out as well as the first chapter, but it will only get better. This is the only chapter where I'll follow directly from the original episode.

Seeing massive reviews/favorites/follows makes me all _'All Fired Up!' _*Telling me to update tends to make me update.

Thanks to everyone else that said it was cute! or amazing! or UPDATE NOW! Byez :D


	3. Celestial Promise

**A/N: **Hey FanFiction! This chapter was reeeeaaallly hard for me to write, LIKE REALLY HARD! I tried my best and I hope you will enjoy it ^-^

I post chapters when inspiration comes crashing into me like a train.

**Genres:** Remember that this story also consists Friendship, Humor, Drama, &amp; Adventure (Along with Romance &amp; Hurt/Comfort)

* * *

**DISCLAIMER:** I don't own Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima does.

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**LIGHT CASTS A SHADOW**

* * *

**Chapter 3: CELESTIAL PROMISE**

Night had already fallen by the time the group had finally reached Magnolia. Magnolia, the merchant city, has been prosperous in magic since the ancient era and is not too far to the north of Hargeon and the sea. Its reputation was supported by the fact that the town houses the strongest Guild in Fiore, _Fairy Tail_.

Sting was overwhelmed by his surroundings. The street lamps shone as bright as stars, illuminating the city. Underneath the ledge of the sidewalk was a small river streaming from the ocean. Many of the men on their fishing boats waved to them as they walked by.

Lucy noticed that Sting and Natsu were getting closer to each other ever since they had departed from Hargeon. It delighted her when she saw the young boy laughing and smiling. He and Natsu already seemed like they knew each other since forever.

"What's your name?" Natsu asked him. Lucy raised an eyebrow. She was interested in finding out his name too. It sort of bothered her that she didn't know what to call him.

Sting blinked at his question. He completely forgot that he still hadn't introduced himself after all this time. "I'm Sting… Sting Eucliffe."

"Sting, huh?" Natsu scratched his head, "Well, once we reach our guild, we'll get you guys to join Fairy Tail!"

"The guild's already closed." Happy replied.

"Oh… Well, if you guys don't have a place to stay, you can crash at our house tonight!" Natsu laughed.

"Actually, I wanted to be prepared, so I booked into an apartment already." Lucy said.

Sting turned to look at her incredulously, "Already?!"

"Yup, it's right over there." She pointed at the estate ahead of them, "It's a lot bigger than my last apartment and I'll actually be able to afford my rent!" She stretched her arms out and yawned, "It's getting pretty late… so I guess we'll see you guys tomorro—"

"Cool, let's go!" Natsu charged.

"Hey, wait for me!" Sting chased after him.

"Aye!" Happy quickly followed behind them.

"Ehh? You guys too?" Lucy sighed, but it warmed her heart when Sting's face lightened up with joy as he raced Natsu to her apartment.

She smiled, '_He finally opened up to us... He used to be so aggressive whenever someone was being kind to him, and he'd try to reject them as much as possible. He refused to trust anyone, but now… he's finally acting like a little kid!'_

Sting stumbled to reach the door before Natsu. He excitedly pumped his fists in the air when he got to the door first, unbeknownst that Natsu only pretended to pass out on the door steps.

"I beat Natsu-san!"

"You're really fast!"

'_He must have had a very tragic past...' _Sadness struck her face as she remembered the time when Sting told her about his parents. _'It must be a miracle that he can even smile again...'_

"...Lucy?" Happy waved his paw in front of her face.

She snapped back to reality, "Hmm… what? Oh sorry, did you say something?"

"Silly Lucy! We're waiting for you."

Lucy looked up to see Happy speaking to her. Sting and Natsu were watching her from the apartment. She quickly shook away her thoughts about Sting and waved to them, "Yeah, I'm coming!" She briskly walked towards the others and they excitedly entered her new apartment.

.

.

.

"They magically transferred all my personal belongings from my old apartment to this one!" Lucy explained as they entered the room. Sting had to admit that it was nicer than her previous apartment.

"It's much more spacious than before, and it's not so far away from the guild!" Lucy entered her new bathroom, "Well… make yourselves at home, I guess. I just need to freshen up a bit." She said tiredly as she gently closed the door.

Just as she said, the three made themselves at home. Sting sat on one of the couches in the living room and watched Happy stuff himself into Lucy's wardrobe. He was deep in thought, until Natsu suddenly sat next to him.

"Hey, Sting," Natsu grinned, "Are you excited to join our guild?"

Sting forced a smirk. He wasn't sure how he felt about joining a guild. Someone like him wasn't as strong as Natsu. He wasn't capable of destroying even a fraction of an entire city. And he just felt so useless and helpless when he couldn't even protect Lucy from that 'Salamander'.

"…Yeah." He lied.

"Great! It's gonna be really fun working with someone as strong as you!"

Sting looked away from him, feeling ashamed. '_That's when you're wrong Natsu-san… I'm not strong at all…'_

Lucy was literally taking forever in the bathroom and Natsu was tired of waiting. He silently hoped that he and Sting could fight to pass some time, "So what kind of magic do you use?"

Natsu was slightly taken aback when he looked into his eyes. They had an empty, faraway look in them. "I… I don't like my magic." Sting's voice cracked.

Sting shuddered as fragments of the past flowed through his head: A loud deafening roar, vibrating in the air. A little boy crying softly, alone in the dark. Ripples cast into the mirror-like surface of a pond, reflecting a distorted smile…

Concerned, he placed a hand on his shoulder,"…Are you okay?"

"…" Sting stared at the ground.

Natsu punched himself mentally. He was good at fighting, but he wasn't the best at talking. He preferred to talk with fists, rather than words. This especially wasn't how he treated new friends. He didn't know him very well yet, but he could tell that something he had said had troubled him.

He tried cheering him up, "Lucy told me before that when she first found you, you were being beaten up by some thugs. She stepped in to save you, but she got into big trouble."

Natsu looked to see if he was listening, but to his dismay, Sting was still staring intently at the ground. He continued, "She said that when you saw her in danger, you instantly defeated the last thug with your magic."

Sting looked up at him in surprise. Natsu felt a little relieved; He had finally caught his attention.

"I'm sorry for asking… but when she told me how strong you were, I just got so fired up! She said it was unlike anything she had ever seen before!" Natsu exclaimed, "It almost sounded like you were trying not to use your magic."

Sting had a gleam of pride in his eyes. His ego flared, "They were nothing!" But, his eyes lowered to the ground again. He promised himself that he wouldn't use magic ever again. "…My magic hurts others. I don't like to use it."

Natsu gently took him by the shoulders, "You're a good person. You don't like to use magic for evil. Many people abuse their powers for selfish reasons, but Fairy Tail wizards use their magic to help others." He beamed, "I fight to protect other people because I don't want my friends to get hurt!"

Natsu's words resounded in his head. Sting didn't like hurting others with his magic, but he would do anything to protect the people he thought were important. Sting remained deep in thought, until Natsu offered him his hand.

"Sting…" Natsu smiled at him, "Let's be friends!"

Sting blinked in surprise as Natsu suddenly held out his hand in front of him. Natsu wanted to be friends with him? He let out a small chuckle; it was more like the other way around. Sting looked deep inside of himself and felt his own dragon-slayer magic coursing through his veins, _To think I didn't even want this power… But if it's a power that will let me protect my friends, then…_

When Sting grasped his hand, Natsu felt immense magic power radiating from him. _I will use my magic to save my friends from danger!_ He looked at Natsu with a new determination. They grasped hands, grinning at each other, "Yeah!"

.

.

Lucy dressed into her pajamas. She finally stepped out of her bathroom to find Natsu sitting in her desk, reading _her_ novel.

"Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" She screamed and kicked him away with all her might. She grabbed all her papers away and shoved them neatly into her drawer. She glared angrily at the poor dragon slayer impaled on her wall, "You can't read this! I-It's not good yet!"

She then heard a sudden, loud commotion coming from her wardrobe. A quick blue blur flew out of the drawer. Happy floated in the air, dressed up as some sort of super hero. He was wearing her socks as gloves, her pink sweater as a small cape, and a—OH GOD. He was using _her_ panties as a mask.

Her voice shook, "Happy…"

"I'm not Happy anymore, Lucy." He said seriously, hiding behind his small cape, "I am… **The Cat Fish**!"

Lucy ran towards the chuckling blue cat and jumped high into the air, "YOU DUMB CAT!" She kicked him into the ground. She thrashed him over and over again until her socks were knocked off… literally. She stood beside Happy's small, fidgeting body, huffing angrily.

When she turned to see Sting in the corner of the room, her whole entire body froze. Sting trembled. He was the only survivor left. When Lucy saw him dangling _her_ celestial gate keys in his hands, she snapped. Her vision went red. Sting was paralyzed with fear as she sprinted towards him, "KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

.

.

Lucy huffed in annoyance. They were touching her stuff without _her_ permission. Sure, she said to 'make themselves at home', but she literally felt like the only sane person in the room. She was still upset with Natsu reading her secret novel and Happy snooping around her clothes, but she would eventually get over that over time. If Sting broke her keys, she wouldn't know what to do.

She glared angrily at the bruised boy sitting opposite of her. He had an apologetic expression on his face and the way his bottom lip quivered was _so_ cute, but that kid was still too stubborn to say 'sorry'.

"...stupid blondie." Sting muttered.

Lucy didn't hear him, "From now on, everything in this room is Off-Limits!"

Natsu and Happy gulped. "…Aye." They said weakly.

"I didn't do anything wrong." Sting's lips tugged into a small pout.

"Then why were you touching my keys?"

"... No reason."

"You know," A small smile crept on her face, "If you ever lie to a woman, the sky's ceiling will collapse."

"Ehh!?" His eyes widened, "Really!?"

"Answer the question."

He hesitated, "I... I wanted to see your new key thing."

Lucy blinked. She actually forgot that she had bought that new gate key. What amused her more was Sting's interest in her celestial spirits. She just thought that he was like those other two idiots randomly poking around her stuff. She giggled, "Well, all you had to do was ask. I would have gladly shown you!"

A small pink tinge crept on his cheeks. He looked away from her, trying to conceal his blush, "Tch…Whatever blondie."

'_So that was it.'_ She laughed, '_He was just too shy to ask!' _

"Well, I guess I can show you how contracts are made!" She winked, "You see, before I can summon a spirit, I must first make a contract with them… This is probably your first time seeing a contract made, huh?"

"A contract?" He asked.

"Oh, contracts are a lot like promises. I first negotiate with the spirit and go over certain conditions of when they can be used. Then we forge a pact, and I'll be able to summon them!"

"…What happens if you break your promise?"

Lucy pondered, "I… I really don't know. I never broke a single promise before—A celestial spirit mage never breaks her promises! But I can imagine that the contract between the spirit and bearer would disappear and they would go their separate ways."

Sting's eyes widened, "So you never break any of your promises?"

"Nope," She smiled. Lucy waved the key of the lesser dog in her hand, "I guess I'll begin the contract now. Open—Gate of the Canis Minor, Nikora!"

A magic portal appeared and a shaking white creature with a carrot-like nose came out. Natsu and Happy's jaws dropped to the floor, "How is _that_ a dog?"

"I actually think it's cute!" She giggled, "Come here, Plue!"

"Puun, Puuun!" It stumbled towards her and they hugged.

Sting was fascinated by the small, white creature. He watched in amusement as they discussed their pact together. He kept her words in mind, _A celestial spirit mage never breaks her promises..._

.

.

When Lucy finished making a contract with Plue, he was sent back to the spirit world. Lucy yawned again and told everyone it was time to sleep. She tried to kick Natsu and Happy out, but they wanted to stay. She just didn't have the energy to deal with them, so she let them sleep on the floor.

Lucy stepped into her bed. She invited Sting to sleep with her. She looked at him expectantly, "Well?"

Sting recalled the last time she slept next to him. "I'd rather sleep on the ground." He replied bluntly.

"Suit yourself." She tossed a pillow to him. She turned off the lights and covered herself with her blanket.

Sting went up to Natsu and Happy and laid his pillow on the ground next to them. "Natsu-san…" He whispered.

Natsu sat up, squinting at him. It was hard to see in the dark, "What's up?"

"…I trust you."

_What's this all of a sudden?_ Natsu wondered. He smiled, "Yeah, I trust you too." Natsu couldn't see Sting's face, but he saw him gently lay down onto his pillow. Natsu yawned and did the same. He closed his eyes, and fell fast asleep.

.

.

.

Sting alerted all of his dragon senses to the maximum. He listened for the rhythmical pattern of everyone's breathing. When he was positive that they were all sound asleep, he stealthily stood up, careful not to make a single noise.

Sting quietly crept over to Lucy's bed. The moonlight shone through the glass, illuminating her features in the dark. Her hair was again matted to her hair as she slept. Sting silently brushed aside her bangs and carefully observed her face: The smooth curves of her edges… The way her eyes were gently closed… How her mouth hung slightly open … and the lavender scent of her hair… He would remember it all. He would never forget her.

He stepped over her bed to reach the window. He silently opened it crouched onto the window sill. Sting looked back to see Natsu snoring on the couch with Happy snoozing beside him. "Natsu-san..." He murmured, "Take care of Lucy for me…"

Sting leapt out of the window and scaled up the wall. Once he climbed to the top of the apartment roof, he ran free in the cool night air. He jumped from roof top to roof top of the buildings below, remembering all the acts of kindness Lucy had shown him. She and Natsu changed him so much…

Once he jumped onto the rooftop of the tallest building and made his way to the highest point of the city, he looked up to see the stars twinkling in the night sky. He gazed over the city of Magnolia, looking down on all of the buildings until he finally spotted the Fairy Tail guild lying in the heart of the city.

_A celestial spirit mage never breaks her promises!_

"Lucy…" His voice shook, "From now on, I'm going to use my magic to help other people. I don't want to leave, but I need to become stronger... When I'm ready, I'll come back to see you guys again. If you keep your promises, then I'll keep mine! When you're in danger—I will be the one to protect you!" Sting shouted at the top of his lungs, "**It's a promise!**"

* * *

**A/N: **So... how many people saw that coming? XD This chapter was the hardest thing for me to write in like forever! I'm sorry if you didn't like the ending or what-not. So Please REVIEW and let me hear your thoughts!

Arc I: [Sting] - CONTINUE

Seeing massive Favorites/Follows/Reviews make me feel _'All Fired Up!' _(I never get tired of that!) XD


	4. Meaning of Birth

**A/N: **This is one of my favorite chapters. Arc 1 -Sting- is only just beginning.

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**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima does.

* * *

**LIGHT CASTS A SHADOW**

✧. Arc I - [Sting]

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**Chapter 4: MEANING OF BIRTH**

Flowers of all sorts of colors were blooming in the scenic town of Alterrassia. A young girl, with light blue hair, rushed through the city.

Her heart was pounding as she soared past the old church building.

Her small legs were screaming in protest as they tried to catch up to her quick pace.

Her sorrow and regret and loneliness were eaten away by one emotion—rage.

"_It would be a shame if she were to lose this…"_ A childishly feminine voice laughed as the sound echoed in her ears.

**Don't you **_**dare**_**.**

"_I wouldn't want to make poor Yukino all upset…"_ The voice sounded sympathetic, but there was a small twisted joy hidden within the words.

Her amber-brown eyes filled with glass tears. Her anger and resolve had reached its peak.

"_She'd be completely devastated!"_

Yukino was speeding up the stone stairs, not even slowing down for her own safety. Adrenaline pumped in her veins, making her heart beat irregularly. She swiftly climbed up the steps with a boost of speed.

**Please—Don't…!**

Yukino had never been so angry or desperate before, in her whole life. For a sickening moment, just as she finally reached the top of the cliff, she froze. That girl, Eliza, was holding her blue rose hairpin over the sheer drop.

She tightly clenched her fists. Eliza… she may be psychotic, but she was taller, faster, and probably a bit older than her.

"_Oh look, the freak finally showed up~"_

"Please… give it back!" Yukino pleaded, "I'll do anything you want—it's very important to me!"

Eliza laughed bitterly in reply. The lunatic had her grimy hands on the dying flower, gripping it with a wide, toothy smile and a sinister gleam in her eye.

"_Oh… I understand. In that case, you can have it back, right away—whoops!"_ Eliza said sarcastically as she dropped the pin from the enormous height.

Time seemed to slow down as Yukino watched her hairpin fall from the ledge. Her heart started pounding madly.

**No! **

_**No! **_

_**NO!**_

Her body reacted by itself. With strength and courage that Yukino never knew she had, she smacked Eliza who gasped in surprise for her speed and fell to the ground, clutching at her cheek. The height was briefly forgotten in the chaos and Yukino dove off the cliff, reaching for the blue rose pin.

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.

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_Almost… got it…_

Yukino was falling down the thousand-foot drop, reaching for her pin. The hairpin was right below her—its blue rose petals flowing gently in the wind—just within her range. Even though she could die from falling at this height, her mind was set on focusing on one thing: _She wouldn't lose her sister a second time._

She thrust her hands in front of her and caught the fragile flower. She heaved a sigh of relief and hugged the blue rose pin for warmth. As she was falling from the sky, the view was absolutely breathtaking and… beautiful. It was too bad she was falling to her death; otherwise she would have enjoyed it.

_**I guess I deserve this…**_

Everyone in the town despised her.

She always screwed up every single task, but she always tried her best.

She was constantly pestered by bullies, such as Eliza, but she'd try to ignore all their harmful words and put a smile on her face.

She was a very kind and cheerful girl who had no part in this world.

And she would accept that _fate_. She stared up at the clear, blue sky and imagined rising up as an angel like her sister always dreamt. She held the blue rose pin close to her heart as a small tear splashed onto its petals. Yukino closed her eyes and waited for herself to collide with the ground.

To her surprise—instead of crashing into the earth—she landed onto something warm, and not the solid, cold surface. Whatever it was had saved her life and she soon lost consciousness...

.

…

6 Years ago

…

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Year X778—

Town of Calypso—

"Yukino," Sorano grasped her hand, "RUN!"

A little girl, the age of 6, stood in the doorway of her home, traumatized. Strange people dressed in black came rushing into her village with strange masks hiding their faces. They claimed to be followers of Zeref and lit the whole town on fire. Tears poured down her face as she saw her parents sprawled against the wooden floor. Sorano took her hand and pulled her away from their house.

"Listen, we can't stop now! We must escape!"

"But Mommy and Daddy—"

"They're already gone…"

The two girls rushed past the burning houses. Sorano did her best to pull her sister through the intense heat, but she was beginning to feel very weak. Blazing embers danced through the air, igniting the whole town. She couldn't cry. If she looked pathetic in front of her younger sister, they both might just give up trying and end up getting captured like the _others_.

Loud cries and screams hung in the air. Most of the townspeople were already caught and trapped in cages. Children were separated from their parents and young men and women were brought forth to the ground.

"We need more slaves for the construction of the Tower of Heaven!" A voice echoed, "Grab all survivors! Kill any of the adults and elderly you find!"

More people were still fleeing the town, only to get caught by the masked followers of Zeref. They were brought forth to the center of the town immediately. Some villagers did try to fight back, but they were severely outnumbered and eventually exhausted of magic power. All of the town's entranceways were sealed away and there were virtually no means of escape.

Sorano held tightly onto Yukino's hand. She led her near a stream of water and found a small, wooden crate with just enough room to hide only one person. Sorano opened it up and took one last glimpse at her younger sister. Yukino was crying softly, staring at the ground, until Sorano suddenly gave her a warm hug.

"You have to escape," She smiled, "You're the only one left that I care about."

Yukino was at lost for words when Sorano removed her signature _blue rose pin_ and placed it in her hair. She gasped when Sorano shoved her into the small crate. Her voice wavered, "N-No—"

"Please… forgive your powerless sister. Those awful people surely won't find you here… and this crate only has enough room to hide one of us. I would rather have you live your life freely than to spend your life in a damp, filthy dungeon like a slave."

"I… I don't want to lose you—!"

"Please," Sorano's voice cracked as she gently closed the crate, "Make your way to freedom…"

Tears streamed down Yukino's face as she peeked through a tiny hole in the crate to find Sorano with her back turned. One of Zeref's followers had spotted her, "I found a survivor!"

Yukino could only watch in horror as they quickly surrounded her sister. There was no way for her to escape. One of them brutally kicked Sorano to the ground and they bounded her with shackles. They were already treating her sister so cruelly and she felt so helpless when she couldn't do anything to stop them.

"S…Stop," Yukino whimpered. She wanted to break out of the box and save Sorano, but it was as if she was glued in the same position. She was consumed by _fear_. She was blinded by her tears, but little did she know that as her sister was being dragged away... Sorano was looking back right at her, smiling to herself.

_You are a very innocent girl who didn't deserve any of this. Please… continue living the rest of your life like an angel…_

.

…

Back to the Present

…

.

"Dammit… Wake up!" Sting grit his teeth.

It has been two weeks since he had left on his journey to become stronger. As he was training in the middle of the forest, he saw a little girl—maybe a year younger than him—dive off of a cliff. He sprinted past the trees and caught her in his arms right before she came into contact with the ground.

…_Is she dead?_ Sting asked himself as he gently laid her onto the ground. She had light blue hair and was wearing a white frill dress. She was clenching something blue in her hand. He heaved a sigh of relief, _No, she's still breathing!_

He couldn't help but wonder what the hell that girl was thinking when she jumped off of that cliff. There was no way she 'accidentally' fell off. The thought of killing yourself bothered him. That girl wasn't trying to kill herself, right? He was deep in thought when she woke up.

"Wh-where am I…" She looked a little confused.

"You're finally awake… you're in the East Forest." He eyed her, "You, okay?"

"I…I'm fine. I'm sorry for worrying you." Yukino smiled. Her smile quickly turned upside down. She completely forgot about her hairpin. She stood up and frantically searched her surroundings. When she realized she had it in her hand, she calmed down.

It was Sting's turn to be confused. "Why did you jump off of that cliff?"

"..." She was afraid to answer his question.

In the girl's hands was a hairpin decorated with a blue rose. "What's that?" He asked.

"…It's my sister's memento," She said sadly as her gaze met his, "It's the only thing I have left to remember her by. She gave it to me before she was taken away…"

He blinked. "Taken away?"

Sting's eyes widened as he noticed the pain flickering in her eyes for a moment. "…Strange people invaded my home when I was very young… They said something about needing slaves for some sort of construction… I can't remember it all too well, but they killed my parents and took my sister with them…"

When Yukino saw that her little story had made Sting crestfallen, she immediately stood up and bowed her head, "I'm sorry for troubling you!"

"Wh-why are you apologizing? It's my fault; I shouldn't have asked."

She laughed a bit nervously, "Hehehe.. sorry... Um, thanks for saving me."

"Just don't do stupid things like that," He grinned, "My name's Sting. What's yours?"

Yukino was very surprised to see Sting holding out his hand in front of her. No one her age had ever been kind to her before. She hesitantly reached for his hand, afraid that he was going to pull it away from her at the last moment. But when their hands gripped together firmly, she smiled. "I'm Yukino Aguria."

.

.

.

Sting fumed as they walked under the entranceway of her town, Alterrassia, "So you jumped off because one of your _friends_ threw your sister's memento down the cliff?!"

The blue rose pin bobbed up and down in her hair, "…Yes."

"Someone like that isn't your friend!"

"Hehehe, so you're on a journey to become stronger so you can join Fairy Tail?" Her eyes widened as she quickly changed the subject.

"Yeah, it's no big deal." Sting looked away, slightly embarrassed.

"…I wish I could do that."

"Then why don't you?"

Sting's question struck her. _Why didn't she?_ "I… I don't know." She answered honestly.

As the two kids wandered around her town, she was beginning to warm up to him little by little. For some reason, being around Sting made her feel happy. Before, she would have had a ghost of a smile implanted on her face to mask the pain of her loneliness—but now—she was smiling to express true happiness.

Yukino was laughing when Sting was telling her the adventures he had after he met Lucy Heartfilia. It touched her heart when he told her that he wanted to protect his friends. When they absent-mindedly wandered into a dark alleyway, she froze.

"…" She became dead silent.

"Hey, are you okay?" He asked. Yukino was shaking uncontrollably, trembling in fear. Her eyes became shadowed by her hair.

"Go away..." She mumbled quietly.

His hands shifted uncomfortably in his pockets, "What?"

"Just, leave me alone." She spoke more clearly.

"Yukino..."

"Stay away from me. I don't want to see you _ever_ again!" She yelled, and she ran away leaving him alone in the dark in confusion.

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.

.

Yukino sprinted into the old, abandoned church building. She was panting heavily as she walked into the dark corridor. Children emerged from the shadows and completely surrounded her. When she saw the traces of magic in that alleyway, she knew that they were looking for her. She felt bad for telling Sting to go away, but she didn't want her new friend to get hurt because of her. She was crying when she lied about never wanting to see him again.

A familiar voice rung in her ears, "_Well look who finally decided to show up~"_ Eliza appeared before her, smiling deviously, "_It's the sick little bitch that had the nerve to strike me._"

Yukino saw that Eliza's cheek was blistering red. She looked at the ground, "…I'm sorry—"

Eliza smacked her across the face. The impact was so strong that Yukino was launched into the wall. The kids started erupting with laughter. The look on her face was just priceless.

"_You really had that coming. Why couldn't you just die when you jumped off of that cliff?"_ She giggled, "_Poor little Yukino… you're as tenacious as a cockroach! You keep crawling back here no matter how many times you get squashed._"

"…" She remained silent.

"_You're pathetic." _She walked up to her, preparing to smash her skull with her heel, until a piercing bright light flashed in the poorly-lit room. Everyone's eyes were adjusted to the dark, that the sudden light momentarily blinded everyone.

"Aaah!" Yukino rubbed her eyes, to see Sting standing right in front of her with his back turned. He was facing Eliza and the others. She thought that she would never see him again. She was so happy that he was here, that she cried. "S…Sting-sama!"

"Leave her alone." He said darkly.

Eliza and the other kids backed off. Sting just sounded so dangerous when he threatened them. Eliza noticed that there were ten of them, only one of him. She laughed, "_Aw, that's so cute! Poor little Yukino is getting from help from an outsider—_" Eliza pouted when she noticed that they weren't even paying attention to her "_Hey! Don't treat me like a background character! I'll smack you~"_

"Is she the one who threw your sister's memento down the cliff?" He asked in a menacing tone.

"...Yes." She nodded.

Yukino never saw Sting so angry before. The only person to have ever stood up for her was her older sister, Sorano. She gaped when she saw him face-to-face with Eliza. Eliza cowered as Sting towered over her. In her eyes, Sting looked as ferocious as a dragon—No... He _was_ a dragon.

"Listen." He glared at her, "I'm not always like this, but when it comes to the matter of protecting my friends, their honor, and their hearts, do not trifle with me... For I am the most powerful and relentless creature you will ever know." Eliza was paralyzed with fear when Sting smirked at her, "And that's a promise."

.

.

.

"Sting, I'm sorry for worrying you. I'm being a burden to you again, aren't I?" Yukino bowed her head as they walked out of the town.

Sting sighed in annoyance, "What are you talking about? You're the one who was suffering. Stop apologizing."

"Okay, I'm sorry. And… is this really okay?" She peered at him, "For me to come along?"

"Yeah, we're friends remember?" He grinned, "It'll be more fun with the two of us!"

Yukino laughed. She wasn't alone anymore. She finally had a friend! She looked back at her beautiful town, bathing in the sunset, _I wanna go on a journey with Sting. …So that someday, I'll be able to find my sister!_

* * *

**A/N: **Let's make this clear—before anybody yells at me—there won't be any StingxYukino, they're just friends. There will be plenty of StiCy moments.

Yukino actually does have a sister named Sorano! But most of you know her as somebody else *_hint*hint_*

So thank you guys sooo much for following, favoriting, and reviewing (It means a lot)! It definitely makes me feel _'All Fired Up!' _XD I would love to hear your thoughts and reactions on this chapter, so please review! :3 Your comments make me insanely happy and your thoughts would be awesome!


	5. Lion's Den

**A/****N:** Sort of like a prologue.

**Genres: **This story also consists Friendship, Humor, Drama, &amp; Adventure (Along with Romance &amp; Hurt/Comfort)

bookworm-anime: To my most favorite reviewer, you nailed it.

* * *

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima does.

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**LIGHT CASTS A SHADOW**

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**Chapter 5: LION'S DEN**

The darkness was all encompassing. He had never known a darkness so deep—so unforgiving as this. Sting could hear nothing. He could feel nothing. All he could do was run in no direction, with little hope to catch up to _her_. Lucy was walking ahead of him, with her back completely turned. He continued to run after her, but she somehow became even farther away.

"(Wait for me!)" Sting wanted to say, but no words came out.

_You're too weak…_

"(Shut up.)" Sting winced.

He kept on running—shadows were pursuing him.

_You'll never catch up to her._

_The gap is too wide. _

_No matter how hard you try…_

"(Stop it!)" He yelled in frustration.

The darkness swirled around him like a jet-black vapor.

…_Y o u' l l ne v er join Fa i ry Ta i l._

Sting became deathly white. Upon hearing those words, a furious shock ripped through the ground. Cracks spread out around his feet. The ground underneath him gave way and fell into the abyss. Sting crawled to escape somehow; however, every place he held onto collapsed. He swiveled his gaze towards the others. He saw Natsu and Happy holding Lucy back, like she wanted to jump in after him. Yukino was pale and had her hands over her mouth. Everyone had mortifying expressions on their faces.

The hold that Sting clung onto finally crumbled. He fell backwards into the abyss, while he tried to grasp the dimming light.

Hours passed, and he continued falling. The dark eternity had already pounced on him, ensnaring him in a vast, dusky void. He could feel its undoubtedly sinister energy making his head split open. The dense air choked him and the pain continued intensifying. There was little Sting could do but exist. He could already feel himself already slipping away into an isolated consciousness. After all this time, he wasn't strong enough. He closed his eyes and waited for his impending death… until someone pulled him out of the blackness.

«_St... ing..._»

He felt a soothing presence lift him out from the contempt, like the warmth of sunlight. Before him stood a certain, blonde celestial mage. She had saved him again: _just like before_. In that moment, he felt so happy just to see her again. Tears flooded his eyes and he braced her into a hug.

"Lucy…! Y..You're okay! You're really okay!" His voice shook, "I..I'm sorry… I never should have left—" He froze when his gaze met hers. Her glossy brown orbs had no pupils. The inhuman way she stared at him made his blood run cold. She had a blank expression on her face, completely void of emotion. On her chest was a huge—blood-red wound.

He let go of her waist and backed away from her. "No… You're not…"

«_Sting…_»

His spine chilled when her stoic voice resounded in his ears, "This isn't real…"

«_Didn't you promise... that... you would protect me...?_»

Sting tried looking away, but he couldn't. He was stuck, as if he was frozen in time. There was no way she could be real. None of this was really happening. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. There was no sound whatsoever. There was only complete, utter silence… until she finally spoke...

«_You... betrayed me._»

.

.

.

"Sting-sama, wake up!"

Sting immediately sat up, startling a concerned Yukino. He was panting heavily, quickly observing the surroundings. Daylight peered into the cave as he glanced around—He was sleeping in a makeshift bed that Yukino made out of leaves, right beside the rocky wall in the mouth of a cavern. He settled back down when he realized that it was just a messed up, twisted dream.

"Um… Sting-sama?" Sting frowned to see Yukino kneeling in front of him again, frantically bowing her head, "—I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to wake you—but… it's just that… you were yelling in your sleep again. Were you having another nightmare?"

"Yukino, you don't have to do that." He sighed, "And… I was. Thanks for waking me up."

In truth, Sting always had trouble sleeping. He didn't sleep at night; in fact, he didn't sleep at all. He'd just push away the tiredness and replace the feeling with all the darker, more insidious emotions that had accumulated inside of him. He was _scared_ of sleeping. Every time he slept, he would have some sort of haunting dream; usually of remnants of the past and his foster dragon. But Sting's guilt had made him dream of something even worse: Lucy being in danger. So far, this was the worst dream he ever had, but he didn't feel like talking about it. He just never liked to talk about his feelings; not even to Yukino.

He stood up and stretched, causing her to stare unusually at him.

"Let's go."

Before she could think about anything, her eyes subconsciously wandered over to Sting's upper body. In a split second, her eyes shot down at the ground—her face now quickly turning a massive shade of red. Sting noticed her shyly looking away, concealing a maddening red, blushing face. He eyed her for a bit, slightly confused.

"Yukino…? What's wrong?"

As he took a step toward her, Yukino backed as far away as she could from Sting. She backed up all the way against the wall until she couldn't escape from his concerned gaze anymore.

"Huh?"

"—A—Aahhh," Yukino squeaked, not knowing exactly what to say, "…S—Sting-sama…"

She shakily pointed at his shirt lying on the ground, without making any eye contact.

"Eh?"

"Y—Your… Your shirt please!" She squeezed her eyes shut.

He blinked.

…_What?_

Sting honestly didn't know what all the fuss was about. Sometimes he wondered why the hell girls were so weird. He swore that girls got upset over the strangest things. So what if he slept with his shirt off? He shrugged. "Whatever."

.

.

.

It's been a few months since Yukino has joined Sting's journey. She now had a new resolve: To find her sister. Sting was training to become stronger to join Fairy Tail, and yet… she could hardly even use magic; let alone fight at all. Sting had a really rare magic, and she had nothing. He told her not to worry about it, but that just made her even more frustrated. There'll come a time where she'll have to fight on her own. She can't just keep relying on Sting for everything like a free-loader. Sometimes she felt like a burden. But her problems were soon forgotten when they arrived in front of a colossal white dome.

"What is this place?" She gaped in awe, "It's gigantic!"

"This is the Lion's Den!" He beamed, "It's a place where I can train and fight a lot of strong people."

"Lion's Den?" Yukino wondered. _Where are the lions?_

"It's just an arena where people fight for glory." He said excitedly, "Basically, the more people you defeat, the more prize money you get. When I was little, I used to fight here all the time to earn money... but we've come here so that I can enter the tournament."

"There's a tournament?" She tilted her head.

"The Lion's Den hosts a lot of renown tournaments to determine the strongest mages in Fiore." He explained, "People from all over the place come just to watch. If I win this tournament, I'll become a Fairy Tail mage!"

_If I win this... I'll be able to protect Lucy from any kind of danger. _He silently added.

They wandered over to the registration desk to enter the tournament.

"Excuse me." Yukino peered up at the young lady behind the counter.

There was an awkward silence as the receptionist stared in front of her, completely ignoring Yukino.

"Uh... Excuse me again." She spoke a little louder this time.

Silence.

"Umm… about the tournament—"

"Huh?" The lady's eyes widened as she finally noticed Yukino speaking to her, "A visitor!? Uwah! Please forgive me, I wasn't paying attention! Errrrm, Errrrrrrm!" She nervously bowed her head, "I'm sorry!"

Yukino frantically waved her hands in the air, "N-No, don't be… Don't bother about us!"

"I…I space out and people get mad at me because of it a lot… So—I'm sorry."

"AWAWAH," Yukino stuttered, "umm… I'm sorry for intruding you so suddenly."

"D-Don't be, it's totally okay! This is part of my job, so I'm really, REALLY sorry!"

"Oh no, please, don't apologize! It was all my fault, so I'm SORRY!"

Sting felt his sweat drop as they continued on like this for a couple of minutes. They're apologizing because they were apologized to…_ It's an infinite loop._

The young receptionist nervously looked over to Sting, "So… umm, what are you here for?"

"We're here to enter the tournament." He explained.

"Oh," The receptionist steadily recovered, "Well, today's event is the _Tsuin Taigā._ You two are partners then?"

"P—Partners?" Yukino blushed. Partners with Sting? Did she and Sting really look like they were in that sort of relationship? They only traveled together for a few months, so they didn't know each other that well enough to be lovey-dovey. But then again, the incident this morning did seem a little weird._ Oh this is so awkward... We'd have to be married to be considered partners... Married?_ Yukino squealed in embarrassment. She rapidly shook her head to clear away her fantasies of a dazzling Sting holding a rose in his mouth.

"The Tsuin Taigā is a 2v2 tournament," She explained. "Where you and your partner have to KO both of your opponents to advance onto the next round and so on. Although... You two seem kind of young for such an intense event… But then again, I did just see another person your age enter."

"We're not partners." Sting said bluntly.

"Oh..." Yukino came to realize. She seemed a little disappointed.

"You're not required to have a partner to participate in the tournament, but it is highly recommended to do so. Many of the participants earlier were also unaware of the 2v2 and are single. However, you are allowed to pair up with another lone fighter to form a team." The receptionist bowed, "I'll take you down to the lobby where the remaining fighters are, so please follow me."

"Good luck, Sting-sama!" Yukino smiled, "I'll be cheering for you!"

"I'm counting on you then." He grinned.

.

.

.

The clumsy receptionist led Sting down a flight of stairs into the 'lobby' where all the fighters were waiting. As Sting entered the massive hall, all the other fighters stopped chatting and glared at the new competition. There was a dead silence as Sting walked further into the room. They stared at him for a while before going back to their regular conversations.

_Yup_, Sting sighed, _this place hasn't changed at all_.

The receptionist told him that all he needed to do was find another partner, but everyone around him were much older and already paired up with someone else; and none of them really looked like much of a challenge. Who would actually be willing enough to fight alongside a kid in an intense, competitive tournament that challenges the person's physical _and_ magic capabilities?

Sting felt extremely awkward, but he had to do _something_. He took a deep breath, "…Does anyone not have a partner…?"

All eyes stared at him. He could already feel himself shrinking away, quickly regretting his decision. _Dammit_, His face turned red. _This is too embarrassing..._ He was about to storm away, until a boy with dark black hair appeared in front of him. They were about the same height. He stared at Sting with his sharp red eyes, as if he was sort of amused.

"How old are you?"

Sting blinked, "I'm 12-years old."

"Hmm… We're the same age."

"Wow… You're twelve too?"

He nodded. "I'll team up with you, if you want."

"Sure!" Sting grinned. "My name's Sting—"

A loud horn blasted in the room, surprising everyone. An announcer entered the lobby, addressing all the fighters, "Welcome to the LION'S DEN!"

The room erupted with cheers from the fighters.

"Now I'm sure you all are familiar with the rules for today's event, the _Tsuin Taigā_: Your team must KO the opposing team in order to advance onto the next round. If you and your partner are both KO'd, the round will end and the other team will be declared victorious. The tournament ends until there is only one team remaining!" She cleared her throat, "We have just finalized the tournament brackets! Please be patient while we finish the final preparations."

Sting looked at the magic screen that hovered over the receptionist's head. Their faces were paired together on the first bracket. They were going to be in the first match of the tournament, against the Southern Wolves Mercenaries.

"It looks like we're going to be fighting first." Sting smirked, "Good luck."

"Hm~" The boy thought to himself, as if deciding about something, "…Rogue."

"Eh?"

"You introduced yourself to me before," He cracked into a smile, "Call me Rogue."

_Rogue…_ Sting sounded the name over and over again in his head. He grinned, "Your name is so cool!"

Rogue looked at him in surprise, "You think so?"

"Yeah, it's like you're a ninja or something!"

"..."

A magic circle suddenly glowed underneath their feet. "Alright folks! We're going to teleport the contestants of the first match onto the arena!" The receptionist cheered. The magic circle cloaked Sting and Rogue in an enormous light and beamed them onto the battlefield. "Let the _Tsuin Taigā_ begin!"

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**A/N: **Next chapter revolves around Rogue and Sting. This was sort of like a prologue. More or less.

Btw, I made this chapter much more bearable to read e.e

~MagicalPuttemtator


	6. Correlation

~PREVIOUSLY ON THE LAST CHAPTER~

_A magic circle suddenly glowed underneath their feet. "Alright folks! We're going to teleport the contestants of the first match onto the arena!" The receptionist cheered. The magic circle cloaked Sting and Rogue in an enormous light and beamed them onto the battlefield. _

_"Let the Tsuin Taigā begin!"_

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**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own Hunter x Hunter, Yoshihiro Togashi does.

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**LIGHT CASTS A SHADOW**

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**Chapter 6: CORRELATION**

The two opposing teams stood on opposite ends of the arena. The Lion's Den arena was portrayed much like a coliseum, with hundreds of spectators standing on the edge of their seats awaiting the match. Hovering in the air were a dozen magic lacrimas overhead of the fighters, scoping every angle of the battlefield.

"The Southern Wolves Mercenary Guild." Rogue noted. "They're professional mercenaries. Regarding their abilities, our chances of winning are very high."

Sting looked over his shoulder and gave him a grin. "Let's just kick their ass."

The bald-headed mercenary studied them, "You two are merely kids. You should quit now and save yourselves from the embarrassment. We have no qualms against fighting little children."

"Tch." Sting grit his teeth._ Quit?_ That seriously got on his nerves.

"Baka." Rogue replied.

The taller mercenary with the Kung-Fu headband seethed in rage, "They're mocking us, Brother! They must be punished!"

The bald-headed brother readied his gigantic battle frying pan, but tensed for a moment when the boy with the raven black hair looked directly at him. He felt his blood run cold. His heart suddenly started quickening its pace. His breathing became short, little quick gasps for air. Those cold, unmerciful eyes were peering right into his soul. A dark aura was definitely emanating from that unworldly boy. He hadn't felt this sensation in a very long time.

_The feeling of bloodlust. _

"…Brother?"

"Don't let your guard down." He said in cold sweat.

The announcer finished the countdown and a loud trumpet blared, "Let the match begin!"

The taller mercenary charged at Sting, tightening his fist. He punched with all his might, but Sting raised up his arm to block the huge fist with the palm of his hand. The older mercenary's eyes widened in shock. A kid managed to defend his attack so easily.

He threw another punch at Sting, but he dodged it. The mercenary groaned by the fact that he missed. He threw a machinegun fire of punches at a lightning fast speed, but Sting managed to deflect and dodge each of the blows successfully without breaking a sweat. Just when Sting thought that the mercenary would exhaust himself from punching, he unexpectedly tried a kick instead, catching Sting by surprise. Sting barely dodged it as the leg swerved over his head.

"Too late." The older mercenary grinned as he slugged a punch during the distraction.

Sting managed to shield the blow with his arms, but the impact was so strong that it made him skid several feet away. The trained punch should have shattered at least a few of his bones, but Sting stood up and stretched as if he was hit by a pillow. The crowd stared in awe. The mercenary just gaped at him, dumbfounded.

Sting suddenly started feeling all badass in the moment. The faces from the crowd were hilarious! All his training really paid off. _What would Natsu say at a time like this_? He thought to himself. He then grinned feverishly, pounding his fist into his free hand, "I'M ALL FIRED UP!"

Sting charged into the mercenary at full speed and launched his fist into his gut. The mercenary choked on the air as he was sent flying into the wall.

.

.

.

At the same time, the bald-headed mercenary was fighting for his life. Rogue was suddenly appearing and disappearing without a trace, then clashing at him again from a different angle. That kid was so fast, that all he could do was shield himself with his gigantic frying pan. He swore that he saw him morph into a shadow from the corner of his eye. He was a professional mercenary yet, he was being toyed around by a kid! No wait, he _wasn't_ a kid. He was a monster.

_Where is he going to appear from?_ He anticipated Rogue's movements. _Left? Right? From behind?_ He was so overwhelmed by his speed he couldn't think straight. His hands, holding the gigantic battle-frying pan, were trembling. He frantically glanced all around until a sudden realization overtook his face… _From above!_

He looked up to see Rogue hovering above him in the air. He found himself face-to-face with him—in what seemed to be a split second, actually felt like an eternity. In all his years of combat experience, never before had he been so taken aback. He had already found Rogue's weird desire to kill, very unusual, but it was something else about him that sent shivers down his spine. What he saw was _truly_ frightening. He had expected to see bloodlust contained within those blood-red eyes of his, but to his bewilderment, all he saw was _nothing_. He didn't see any glints of anger or fear or excitement. He saw nothing. Rogue's face had no signs of emotion. It was as if he was a mindless, killing-machine without a human conscience.

Rogue took this opportunity to seize his throat with a single hand. The bald-headed mercenary choked as he was raised up into the air by a kid only partial to his size. The crowd gasped and everyone was starting to feel concerned when Rogue continued to strangle him. The mercenary's eyes were streaming with tears as his lungs pleaded for oxygen.

"…_ogue… Rogue!_"

A familiar voice rung in his ears, stirring Rogue out of his blank slate. It was like waking up from a dreamless sleep. He turned his head in surprise to see Sting yelling at him, "—Stop it! You're taking it too far!"

He noticed his hand tightly clenched around the man's neck. The mercenary's face was turning purple. He immediately released his grip and the mercenary jumped away from him, gasping heavily for air. All eyes were centered on Rogue. His mind was clouded by a dark haze, and his vision was blurring with each passing second.

A blazing fireball from the other mercenary came hurtling past Rogue, missing him only by an inch, but he didn't move. Sting cursed when he saw Rogue just standing still in the middle of the battle like an idiot. This time, the mercenaries prepared to launch a more massive, devastating attack. As if upon instinct, Sting rushed to his side and pushed Rouge out of the way, getting hit in the process. Rogue's eyes widened as the flames seared Sting's arm.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Sting winced.

Rogue snapped out of his daze, now intently staring at his wound, "Your arm…"

"I can bear the pain. It still hurts. That's why I'm a little pissed."

"…Why would you do that?"

"We're partners you idiot," Sting huffed angrily, "We have to look out for each other."

_Partners…_

Rogue nodded his head in understanding. For a few moments, they stared at each other in an unspoken dialogue. The message between the two was clear: _It was time to end this._ The mercenaries watched them from a distance, waiting to see what would happen next—The bald headed mercenary ready to counter with his Frying Pan, and the taller mercenary standing in a defensive stance.

Sting's eyes sparked with sapphire rage. His resolve to become stronger shone even brighter.

"_White Dragon's…_"

Rogue felt a new feeling surge inside him. He would entrust Sting with everything.

"_Shadow Dragon's…_"

"—_**ROAR!"**_

A piercing bright laser and a beam formed from the essence of darkness spiraled together into a collision of light and shadow. The unison attack spliced through the air, its pressure causing small ripples to carve into the ground. The mercenaries barely had time to react as the combined beam overwhelmed them with intensive power.

Everyone in the Lion's den became speechless. The Southern Wolves Mercenaries lost to a pair of kids—in the very first round!

For a brief moment, Sting and Rogue turned to look at each other in surprise. The first thing to register in Sting's mind was complete shock. Rogue's powers are different from his, but they both use the same kind of destructive magic. In fact, they even _roared_ together. The crowd suddenly erupted with cheers as a wave of realization struck his face… Rogue was a dragonslayer.

"The winners of the first round: Sting and Rogue!"

.

.

.

The two were silent when they warped back to the waiting area. Fighters were not allowed to engage with one another after the tournament has started, so a room had been prepared for each victorious team, along with a magic lacrima to view the current battle. They sat on opposite ends of the couch, staring at the walls to kill some time.

"So…" Sting broke the awkward silence, "You're a dragonslayer too?"

Rogue nodded solemnly.

"Cool!" Sting grinned. He shifted closer to him, "No wonder you're so strong!"

Rogue widened his eyes in surprise. He turned away from his bright smile.

The two were quiet again. Sting was glad he had found another dragon slayer just like him, but he didn't know what they could talk about… he hardly knew anything about Rogue. If there was something they could talk about—anything else that they had in common—then maybe they could delve deeper as friends. But no matter what he would do, Rogue would just look away and avoid talking with him. _Am I offending him somehow?_ Sting sighed.

"Are you okay?" He decided to ask, "You seemed really distracted back there. That attack would have done a number on you."

"I'm fine." Rogue lied. That direct attack would have inflicted major damage to him, but that wasn't the only thing bothering him. For a moment, his consciousness seemed to have drifted away when he was fighting. While he was regaining his senses, Sting foolishly jumped in front of the fireball to protect _him_. The fact that someone shielded him was extremely frustrating. Just what could he accomplish by doing that? Why would he ever risk himself in danger? _None of this makes any sense. _Rogue glimpsed at his wound, "How's your arm?"

"Oh," Sting brushed over his burn. He laughed, "Haha! Don't worry, it doesn't hurt anymore. This burn is nothing compared to Natsu-san's fire. His flames are way hotter than this—"

Rogue tightly gripped Sting's wrist and inspected the burn. His arm was scorched all the way to the bottom-layer of the skin. _This idiot… it's a third degree burn!_ "Why?" Rogue glared at him, "Why would you do something so infuriatingly stupid? We hardly know each other and you've already risked yourself to protect me. What were you possibly thinking?"

Sting scratched his head, "I guess that's the point. I _wasn't_ thinking. We are a team, after all, so I guess it's only a natural thing to do, right?"

Rogue turned away from his idiotic grin. People usually do nice things, expecting something in return; however, Sting is different_. Sting is terrifying. _Rogue got up from the couch and headed towards the bathroom. He searched the cabinets for antibiotics and found some bandages. _The way I feel towards people who are kind for no reason… I feel incredibly afraid. I'm scared of kind people. That is why, out of all the people I've met, Sting is definitely… definitely, the scariest. _

.

.

.

In the next upcoming battles, Rogue tried his best focusing on the task at hand, but Sting's warmth shone down on him mercilessly. He and Sting unconsciously learned how to work together as a team _during_ the matches. They soon became an unstoppable force. With their age, athletic ability, and unique magic potential all being quite too similar, someone in the crowd nicknamed them the 'Twin Dragons', which eventually stuck as their official team name.

At some point, they memorized each other's fighting patterns. With advanced dragon-like hearing, Sting acknowledged Rogue's footsteps to be silent even when they were sprinting next to each other. It was muted and stealthy, like a shadow itself. With each passing match, Rogue found himself opening up to Sting little by little. It turned out that they really did have a lot of things in common. They were both raised by dragons in the past, and in the end…

"…" Sting touched his scar.

Rogue forlornly looked in his direction, "I _killed_ mine too."

Sting stared at him.

"My dragon was gravely ill. He told me that if I were to slay him, I would become 'stronger' as a dragon slayer by ending his life. At the time, I was 6-years old and I hardly understood what he meant… but then he threatened to kill me." Rogue blankly stared off into space, "I merely assisted him with his death. After my dragon died, I was captured by a group of cultists. They were known as 'Shadow Dragon Worshippers'. They witnessed me slaying my dragon, and decided to take me in, announcing that I was the 'Chosen One' or something. Soon after, I was adopted by the Cheney family."

"Adopted…" Sting repeated, "So you have a mom and dad, right?"

"Hm… They're alive. Probably." Rogue shrugged.

"_Probably? _What do they even do?!"

"They're assassins."

"Huh?" Sting blinked in surprise, "Both of them?"

"Wow…" Sting heard Rogue laugh for the very first time, "You really are a weirdo! You're the first person who's ever responded so seriously!"

"Well, aren't you telling the truth?" He asked innocently.

Rogue reverted back to his usual poker face, "What makes you think that?"

"Just a hunch."

"…You're really weird, you know that? People only like me because they can't tell whether or not I'm being serious." Rogue sighed as he slumped deeper into the couch cushion, "I was adopted into the Cheney family line of assassins. So they're all assassins. And my family has really high hopes for me to become their ''Chosen One'… But I can't stand it! Who wants to have their future planned out for them? When I told them I wanted to plan my own future, they all snapped!" Rogue bitterly smiled, "Assassination may be the family profession… but I'm sick of it. They see me as their destined successor, but I don't see why I should have to live up to their expectations."

"…"

A notification suddenly appeared onto the magic lacrima with a small beep.

**[Final Match: Twin Dragons vs. Shadow Seeker]**

Sting looked at the screen, "So our next match is the final round. We're fighting against the _Shadow Seeker_?"

"He's a cloaked man with a mask that defeated all his opponents without revealing any magic," Rogue showed a grim expression, "I took the liberty of observing his matches while you were resting. I don't know anything else about him, aside from the fact that he fights alone."

"He doesn't have a partner?"

"In technical terms, you are not required to have a partner to participate in the Tsuin Taiga tournament. However, considering that he was able to get this far with the disadvantage of being outnumbered, he must be very powerful. His opponents would just come right at him and the match would be over in an instant. I can't determine our chances of winning since we don't know anything about his abilities." Rogue seemed troubled.

"Our chances of winning?" Sting questioned, "I remember you were mumbling about something like that to yourself before. I really don't care about those kinds of things."

Rogue looked at him with an intensified glare, "_What_?"

"I wouldn't give up just because someone is stronger than me. That would just make me wanna try even harder!" Sting put an arm around his shoulder, "Together, we got this far. All we have to do is beat him up and win. Let's show him the power of the Twin Dragons!"

"B-baka. Cut that out!" Rogue muffled, "It's embarrassing."

"After this…" Sting's voice dropped to a whisper. His spiky blonde hair covered his eyes as he spoke, "It will all be over… I'll go see her again, and keep my promise."

Rogue stared at him as if he heard something he wasn't supposed to hear. Could it be that this final match was something Sting couldn't afford to lose? Rogue shook his head. It wasn't any of his concern. After the end of the tournament, it would be just like he said, '_It will all be over._' He and Sting would sever ties and they would each go their own separate ways.

.

.

.

When they entered the arena, the entire Lion's Den erupted with cheers. Sting arrogantly smirked at the audience while Rogue nonchalantly ignored all the ruckus. They easily became the crowd favorite. It was the final match of the tournament and Sting was all amped up, but Rogue had an ominous sense that something foreboding was going to happen. His head was feeling more groggy than usual. Unlike his previous matches, the effect was much stronger this time.

The Shadow Seeker appeared before them at the opposite end of the arena. His appearance somewhat made everyone a little uneasy. He was a shady looking character wearing a dark cloak and a spooky white mask. No one has seen even his magic capabilities yet. And as for a lone fighter, just how suspicious could he possibly get?

The preparations for the match have finished. The crowd shouted along with the countdown as the numbers eventually counted down to zero. The trumpets blared and the announcer's voice resounded throughout the arena, "Let the final match BEGIN!"

Sting and Rogue proceeded towards their target as planned. Sting approached the man head on and shined a bright flash of light to blind his vision. Meanwhile, Rogue morphed into a shadow and appeared before the man's exposed, vulnerable rear. Using the element of surprise, there would be no way for the Shadow Seeker to guard both attacks at the same time with lack of vision. However; the split second before their assault, the man completely disappeared. Momentum was in favor, and it was too late to stop themselves as their fists connected with each other's face.

"Oi!" Sting rubbed his jaw as a small vein popped out of his head, "Watch it!"

Rogue cringed. He saw exactly what happened. The moment before they landed an attack, the man merged into a shadow. _Wait…_ Rogue could feel himself shaking. _One who can also manipulate shadows… Then that means the Shadow Seeker is…_ His eyes widened in fear as the man reappeared a small distance away from them.

"Ah…" He removed his mask and took off his cloak, revealing a slim, built figure. He had long black hair and jet black eyes that held no emotion. His pale, white skin was absolutely flawless. He cocked his head to the side and stared directly at Rogue, "I've been looking for you, Ryos."

"Brother…" He murmured.

Sting was utterly confused. _Ryos? Brother?_

The Shadow Seeker's attention focused on Sting. Without any time to react, the man suddenly appeared behind him in an instant, "Who is this? Well, it doesn't matter." He clasped his hands around Sting's mouth and a shadow gagged him.

"…!" Sting tried to speak but his speech was prevented. He tried to remove the shadow from his face, but his hands wouldn't budge. The shade-like thing restricted his entire movement. He fell to the ground, unable to move.

"I don't want any outside distractions." He said blankly, "I heard you ran away from home, Ryos. Everyone was so happy see that you've grown up. But they were worried of you leaving home, so Father asked me to check up on you. What a coincidence. I didn't know you were interested in tournaments."

Rogue looked at his feet, "…I just felt like joining."

"What a relief." He walked towards him and patted him on the head, "You were born to be a killer. You're a puppet of darkness with no passion. You don't want anything nor wish for anything. As one who lives in the shadows, you can only feel pleasure when people _die_." His voice echoed in Rogue's head, turning his skin deathly white, "That's how we raised you. What could you accomplish from entering a tournament?"

He was shaken by his words, but being with Sting gave him courage, "I'm not really interested in tournaments, but… there is something I do want…"

"You don't." He answered plainly.

"I do! There's something I really want!"

"Oh?" He tilted his head in curiosity, "And what is that?"

Rogue took a deep breath. "I want to become friends with Sting… I'm sick of killing people. I want to become friends with Sting and live a normal life—"

"That's impossible." Rogue staggered. His head was about to burst, "You'll never be able to make friends. You should only concern when you meet someone, is whether you should kill them. That's how you were trained. You don't know how to classify Sting. You don't actually want to become friends with him."

"You're wrong…" His vision was getting hazier.

"If you stay with him, you end up killing him someday… Because you have the soul of a killer." His voice was dark and foreboding. He then bent down and whispered in his ear, "Because of that fact: **You don't have the right to be friends.**"

.

.

.

Rogue was reduced to an inner shell of himself. "Now… let's go home." His brother ordered. Rogue followed behind him with systematic obedience.

"W—Wait!" Sting ripped the shadow off his face. He stood up with difficulty, "Apologize to Rogue!"

"Interesting… He broke free from the shadow bind." The brother tilted his head in curiosity, "Apologize, you say? For what?"

Sting grit his teeth, "You don't know what you did wrong?"

"Nope."

"You don't have the right to be his brother."

"Must I earn that right?"

"He doesn't need to earn the right to be my friend!" Looking at Rogue made him crestfallen. His blood-red eyes had no pupils. He stood behind his brother, staring at nothing with unmoving eyes. His face was completely void of emotion. "Don't bother apologizing. I'm going to rescue Rogue."

"You're making it sound as if I'm kidnapping him. He's following me on his own."

He had enough of this crap, "But it isn't by choice! You're manipulating him with your magic. It's the same as kidnapping him! You've been forcing Rogue to kill—against his own will—this whole time!" Sting recalled their first match when Rogue was mercilessly choking the mercenary. He won't allow Rogue to suffer any longer. Rogue used to walk a dark and lonely path all by himself, but from now on, he will be there to guide him by his hand and light the way. "…I'll make you pay."

"Make me pay?" The brother asked genuinely, "What exactly will you do?"

"Rogue is my friend. I'm taking him with me." Sting said darkly, "Once I rescue Rogue, you'll never see him again!"

Sting was suddenly knocked back by a malevolent force. Even the spectators were affected. Sting recovered and discovered where this sensation was coming from. The Shadow Seeker's urge to kill was so powerful that his bloodlust swept everyone away. The man had a murderous intent hidden behind his expressionless face. "Really… that's no good. He considers Ryos a friend. Okay then, I'll kill Sting." He decided.

As he prepared to kill Sting with a swift strike, Rogue regained his senses and intercepted him from behind. He slashed him from different angles in an instant, then launched him into the air with a devastating blow. "Shadow Dragon's Roar!" The Brother was blasted directly while airborne. He fell limp to the ground.

"Ryos…" He seemed particularly unaffected, "You managed to break free?"

"This whole time I was being controlled by your shadows, without even realizing it," Rogue said, "But then I heard Sting's voice… He lifted me from the darkness. I have no intention of succeeding the family profession!"

"...I see._ Shadow Control_ is pointless now." The brother sighed, "Then, I will report back to Father." He dissolved into a shadow and disappeared.

The whole Lion's Den was stunned. It took a moment for the judges to take in what happened. Since the opposing team has fled, it was declared that the Twin Dragons win by default. The spectators rose from their seats and applauded. Massive cheers thundered from the stands. Sting grinned back at Rogue in the center of the arena.

"It's all over."

"Yeah…" Rogue finally realized why he was so attracted to Sting when they first met. Sting is the white dragonslayer as he is the shadow dragonslayer—as light is to dark. One cannot exist without the other. "Sting, you are light… Sometimes, you shine so brightly that I must look away…" Those blood red eyes of his gazed up under dark brows, "But even so, is it still okay if I stay by your side?"

"No matter what happens, we'll always be together." Sting beamed, "It's a promise!"

* * *

**A/N: **INSPIRED BY HUNTER X HUNTER.

Define correlation :3

I sincerely apologize for the incredibly slow plot, but Sting's journey is soon coming to an end!

Most sensual StiCY next chapter-Bringin' on all the fluff!


	7. Lemon Flavored

**A/****N:** This chapter was originally going to be a 0ne-shot, but a lot of edits were made and it eventually developed into the main story. I actually wrote this a while ago, but I never posted it before because of many, various reasons. For one, it didn't fit earlier in the story at the time when Sting went on his journey e.e However, I adapted it and you should be able to read it to your liking~

Warning: Intense fluff. Read at own risk :3

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**DISCLAIMER****:** I do not own Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima does.

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**LIGHT CASTS A SHADOW**

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**Chapter 7: LEMON-FLAVORED**

He was on the brink of collapsing from mental exhaustion. His mind was completely empty. His hand dangled off the couch as he stared up at the blank ceiling of Lucy's apartment. The boring old book that she had given him was suddenly thrown across the room.

"Oi! Lucy," Sting called out, "How long do I have to sit here?"

She was so absorbed into writing her novel that she didn't even acknowledge his presence. Her pencil danced around as she furiously scribbled down words into her notebook. He decided that he liked the way she looked when she was writing her story. It was nice. Her face was nice.

He was fascinated by the focused look she made when she dove into her novel and the way she slumped in despair when she suffered writer's block. These were just two of the numerous things he noticed about her when she was doing the thing she loved the most. She hardly noticed him staring while she was writing, and when she did, her face would turn a bright shade of red and she'd stutter for him to stop, eventually shooing him away—which made it even more fun.

He admired that about her. The last time someone tried to read her work in progress, Natsu ended up getting stuck head-first inside a wall. The only thing that bothered him was why she hid the fact that she was writing a novel. There's no reason for her being so secretive… _Is she hiding something?_ Sting's curiosity suddenly peaked. _What on Earthland does she write about?_

He got up from the couch. The aspiring, young author still hadn't noticed him yet. If he was gonna get caught, he would accept the consequences. _It's now or never, _He decided. He casually strolled over to her desk and gripped onto the rail of her chair. She dreamily propped her face up with her hand as she wrote of her heart's content. He proceeded to read the top of the paper, unnoticed.

The beginning had a few warnings, like some violence, a few bad words, and something called a 'lemon'. His brow arched at this. _What's so bad about a story with a lemon_, he wondered. The celestial lollipop that Plue had given him was lemon-flavored. He didn't get it, but he continued on with the story.

It was a romance story, Sting later realized. A sort of story where two individuals—male and female—fall in love. He wasn't really into these types of stories, but he continued on anyways.

Sting then got really confused. The next few paragraphs had a bunch of words that he didn't understand. He read around them, trying to figure them out by using context clues, but nothing came to mind. Just before he was about to give up, his eyes skimmed down to something _interesting_.

Sting didn't know what was going on, but Lucy's story involved two people—one boy and one girl—lying down together. He read on, and the boy crawled on top of the girl and started sucking on her neck. He quirked a brow at this. He wondered if the boy was secretly a vampire. He continued reading, and the boy had given the girl something called a 'hickey' on her neck.

"A hick-key…" He unconsciously sounded the word out.

"Uwaa…"

Blink.

Sting looked to see Lucy trembling in her chair with a maddening red, blushing face.

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

.

.

.

Sting sat on the couch watching Lucy pace around in front of him with a bored expression. As usual, she was chatting way too fast, giving him the usual lecture when he gets caught watching her write. But this time, he greatly overdid it. "So…" She eyed him suspiciously, "Did you… happen to read anything weird?"

She twirled her hair around nervously.

"Define weird." He replied.

"I—I see, ahem," Lucy cleared her throat. She looked somewhat relieved, "You better not do that ever again, you hear? I'm not very confident in my writing ability yet, so I don't like it when other people read my work. Someday, when I become a little better, maybe I'll allow you to take just a small peek, but—"

"What's a hickey?" Sting asked innocently, which made Lucy almost fall over. Her face immediately turned a bright scarlet and she completely turned around, ignoring his gaze.

"What does it mean?" He asked again, this time a little annoyed.

"…It means a lot of things." She remarked, composing herself, "Things that you shouldn't know about until you're older."

Sting began feeling really irritated. "Just how much older?" Sting pouted. He crossed his arms, greatly frustrated by the fact that he wasn't allowed to know. It was just a story, all make-believe, so Sting didn't really see the problem with just _knowing_.

"Until you're a hundred years old~" Lucy smiled teasingly.

Sting fumed. He knew she was toying with him, but arguing with her would only make him feel even more frustrated. "Fine." He sighed in defeat.

Lucy stretched and yawned, "Good. All of these surprises wear me out too fast… I'm going to sleep." Sting watched as she gently laid down in bed, "Turn off the lights when you're done."

Sting let out a frustrated sigh. He reclined on the couch, thinking about the story. His hand absent-mindedly cupped his own neck. Did that stuff really happen? What the hell did it all mean? If he bothered Lucy about it, he'd just get the same response as before, which was even more vexing. He was usually stubborn, but when he got curious about something, he was persistent.

He then thought of a scheme. And it was probably the only way to get Lucy to tell him what the word meant, so he followed his gut. When he was sure she dozed off, he slipped off the couch and turned off the lights. The moonlight shone from the window, illuminating her body. He liked the way she slept. When her mouth wasn't moving, she somewhat looked peaceful.

After taking a deep breath, Sting carefully crawled onto the bed, carefully positioning himself on top of her. Although she was lightly asleep, her face remained completely relaxed. His knees were a little shaky at first, but he listened to his instincts. Taking in another deep breath, Sting slowly moved in forward, pressing his mouth onto her neck.

Something kicked in and he suddenly felt an irresistible urge to devour her whole being. He began to feel Lucy stir beneath him, but he let out a low growl. He didn't care. He locked his lips in place, sucking at the soft skin on her neck. Lucy let out a moan, but she didn't say anything. Sting felt her smooth hands on his waist, slowly trail up to his shoulders.

"S—Sting!" She stammered, clutching him by his shoulders. Sting didn't budge an inch. He proceeded to sink his teeth into her neck. Lucy flinched, but didn't let go. She forcefully shoved him away, looking at him in shock. A small, red bruise appeared on the place Sting latched his mouth on. Sting stared at it with wide eyes, "Wow. Does it hurt?"

"Wha—Wha—Wha—Wha—Wa—Wa—" She sputtered in pure shock, "_Where_ did you… _Why_ did you… _What_?" Lucy grasped at her neck. He studied her expression; she looked pretty exasperated and her face was turning bright pink. His eyes made contact with hers and it looked like she was about to cry; a mixture between hurt and anger. Sting was greatly confused by her emotion.

"…Did I do something wrong?" He frowned. Sting sat up right, looking down at the blanket to avoid her gaze. The last thing he wanted to do was make her upset. Lucy stared at the sincere, apologetic expression of his. "I read your story even when you didn't want me to. And… _That_ was in it, and I knew you wouldn't tell me what it was, so I thought…"

Without realizing it, Lucy brought her hand gently upon his cheek. The contact caused Sting to look at her face, and she had hints of a smile forming from the corners of her mouth.

"You were just curious. You didn't do anything bad." She said quietly.

"…I'm sorry, Lucy."

Her eyes widened. It was the first time she had heard him actually call her by her real name, instead of _Blondie_. It was also the first time he apologized for something. She broke into a smile, "It's okay, Sting. Just, be happy." Lucy wrapped her arms around him, pulling him close into hug. Sting did the same, embracing her, embarrassed.

"So…" Sting pulled away and gestured towards the mark he made on her neck, "What does _this_ mean?"

"What does… oh, _that_." Lucy seemed to have forgotten in a brief moment—or at least tried to forget. She paused for a long time, "Um… I-it's called…" What was the best way to explain something like this to him? Wait, why should she even be telling him this in the first place? The idea of soiling his innocence made her frown.

"It's called a hickey." She explained. "People who love each other give this mark…"

_Love…_ Sting knew little about love. He knew he loved his dragon. And he knew his dragon used to love him. He knew that he loved Celestial Spirits and he loved showing off his strength. He loved Natsu and he also loved Happy.

He loved Lucy.

"But," Sting emphasized his question, "What does it _mean_? Why do people do it?"

"I guess it's a symbolic way for people to say, 'You are mine', or 'You belong to me'." Lucy pondered for a bit, "Well, that's the best way I can explain it for you. I don't know too much about it myself," She laughed nervously.

Sting sat motionlessly on the bed. His spiky, blonde hair hang over his face as he remained deep in thought. The moonlight, shining through the window, suddenly made their figures glow even brighter within the darkness. Sting remained silent for a while before shoving Lucy back down onto the bed. He whispered in a serious tone, "Lucy…"

"S—Sting?" Her eyes widened as he suddenly raised his body over hers, pressing his hands down on the mattress for support.

His ocean-blue eyes made contact with her warm-brown orbs, "You are mine." He then grasped her hand and guided it onto his own neck, "So then… **Can I be yours**?"

.

.

.

Lucy sat up straight in her bed, panting heavily. Her eyes flustered around the room in a panic, but she realized she was in her own apartment. She looked out the window and noted it was still night time. There was just one thing she had to clarify. She hopped off her bed and made way towards the bathroom. She turned on the light and looked at her reflection in the mirror.

Her hand was still cupped around her neck, where the small red mark was made. She removed her hand, only to reveal flawless-looking skin. The mark that the arrogant little brat had made wasn't there!

"Thank God, it was only just a dream!" Lucy laughed to herself in relief. She then stopped laughing mid-way and began to feel very sad, "Yeah. It was only just a dream…"

She still remembered the day when Sting decided to run away. On the morning which she woke up and found Sting to have disappeared, she, Natsu and Happy searched all over the town for him, only to find nothing. When she managed to join her dream guild, she was happy, but she also felt a little empty on the inside. Whenever she returned home from her missions and adventures with Natsu and the gang, she was always half-expecting him to suddenly appear.

She missed Sting.

The only thing left to do was go back to bed; but, her bed sometimes felt too big for her. It was spacious and felt a little lonely. Sleeping without _him_ was lonely. She missed the feeling of another person's warmth. "…I just can't get used to sleeping alone." She said out loud to herself as she exited her bathroom.

"Then allow me to join you!"

Her face was deadpan as one of her celestial spirits, Loke the Lion, sprawled across her bed, shirtless. His eyes sparkled radiantly like stars and he stretched his hand out towards her, waiting expectantly for her to grab it. Her eye then twitched.

"Forced Gate Closure."

"Uwah! Lucy, noooooooooooo~"

The sex beast was pulled back into the Spirit World. Lucy heaved a heavy sigh. With the mood of going back to sleep killed, she decided writing another letter to her mom would be the best way to help settle her mind. She sat at her desk and picked up a pen.

…

* * *

.✧.✦.✧.

_Dear Mom,_

_I'm doing okay as always._

_Our guild is having an S-Class Advancement Exam and everyone's pretty excited. Of course, there's no way I'd qualify for the test, but tomorrow I'm going to be helping my friend, Cana. A lot of things have come up recently, you see…_

_Cana decided that if she doesn't pass this exam, she won't be worthy enough to meet a certain someone. She even threatened that she would quit the guild for good this time… I can't let her do that! She is a part of the family. There's no way she can just leave!_

_I became her partner._

_She's depending on me._

_I'm going to use all my power to help her pass._

_Tomorrow at Tenroujima, no matter what happens, I'll help her become an S-Class wizard!_

_You don't have to worry about me, though._

_By the way, I had another dream about Sting tonight._

_When he comes back, I'll fill him on everything he's missed so far: How I met Gray, Erza, and Wendy… How we managed to stop Lullaby, the Tower of Heaven, and the Oración Seis … Our impossible adventure in Edolas... A lot has happened in the span of just 6 months!_

_He'll definitely come back again, I'm sure of it. Once he does, I'll show him to everyone at the guild! I'll show him to Mira, Master Makarov, Levy, and to Cana—after we come back together from passing the S-Class exam, that is. Wish us luck, Mom_!

_I love you! –Lucy H_

.✧.✦.✧.

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**A/N**: So, what did you guys think of that embarrassing fluff? Am I the only one who likes Lemon-Flavored lollipops? ^^; …I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get so weird with their ages, but I swear things will get a 1000x better in the future. Like—a lot, lot better. You'll practically be blown away! I think.

Thanks so much for following, favoriting, and reviewing—I love you people! Shout out to: _WhiteWinterStar_, _bluefrost15, Silversun XD, _and _SimplyIsabelleS_. Having followers that respond make me so happy ;~;

All writers love to receive reviews, and it gives us impressions of what you guys thought of our stories. When I hardly receive any feedback, I FEEL LIKE NO ONE CARES QnQ. *Throws all the Tables* Aaaaanyways, I require inspiration to write. Inspiration = reviews. As always, you guys make me feel "All Fired Up!" XD

Next Chapter: **Light Casts a Shadow**

Finale of Arc I: [Sting].


	8. Light Casts a Shadow -Part 1-

**A/N:** Hey guys. I think I just died. I cried too much today. A lot of things have just come up and I was burdened with a tremendous amount of heavy emotions, but I poured all my feelings into my writing so I'm sure you'll enjoy this. I feel like this is the best of all my chapters. This 2-part Finale will be the end of Arc I: [Sting]

This chapter is dedicated to my baby brother.

Notice: Special thanks to _Skittles01274._ Thanks for giving up your own personal time beta-testing my plot! I hope this finale will exceed your expectations!

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**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima does.

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**LIGHT CASTS A SHADOW**

✧. **Part 1**

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_**When you're about to leave this world, you should smile. That's the last thing you can show to the people you love.**_

Her parents died protecting her when she was small.

She saw her sister for the last time when she was taken away by the people that invaded her village.

At the time, Yukino cried and cried.

She cried because it was heartbreaking.

But, no one would know how much she regretted it afterwards.

_**I should've smiled. I should've shown them the best smile.**_

She should've smiled. Shown that it's alright, and that she would live happily by herself and make them proud.

Not being able to do it always remained as one of her regrets.

_**I had to grow up quickly...**_

Yukino was alone for a long time. She moved to a town that was extremely prejudice towards outsiders. She lived in an abandoned old church and had to sell berries on the side of the road to make a living. The berries that she grew were as sweet as honey, for they reflected her heart.

Soon the whole town became aware of her existence and despised her. For years, delinquents constantly flocked to her and made her everyday life a living hell. She already knew so well that she was pitiable and powerless, but their fists and words didn't only inflict pain. They told her twice, three times… over and over again, that she was pathetic. That she was weak.

**_I completely became that person._**

It wasn't until meeting Sting that her life completely changed. He brought her back up on her feet and led her to a new path she never imagined… He made her realize that she was free to follow her own dreams—to do whatever she wanted. He had the warmth and kindness that her sister used to have, and every time Yukino looked at him, she secretly decided in her heart that he was the kind of person that she wanted to become.

Well, she used to. Her reality was immediately shattered after they arrived on the _train_.

"I'm going to die… At this rate, we're all going to die." Sting weakly murmured as he heaved himself up onto the window of the train cart, "I need… to escape."

Yukino let out a scream as she shook Rogue's lifeless body back and forth. "Rouge-sama, stop him!"

"..Uu…uuu…" Rogue helplessly drooled onto the seat. `

Realizing that he was completely useless, Yukino desperately clung onto Sting's legs. "Sting-sama, you're going to kill yourself!" She yelled as she struggled to bring his dangling torso back into the train cart.

The train suddenly jerked so heavily that Rogue was sent back flying into the wall. Yukino let out a shriek as the momentum helped her narrowly pull Sting back from the window, just as he was about to collide with an incoming building.

A few minutes later, Yukino found herself lying on the cold hard ground of the train cart, severely questioning every single thing she had done up to this point. The two lifeless bodies of her friends were collapsed on top of her. Rogue's saliva slowly dripped down her neck as Sting's weight crushed her tiny chest. A trickle of tears spilled out of Yukino's half-laughing eyes, "I'm surrounded by _corpses._"

.

.

.

The Twin Dragonslayers were the first to scramble out of the train. Sting crawled out onto the platform in agony as Rogue shakily stood up, bracing onto a nearby bulletin board for support. "Free… We're finally free—" His face turned a sickly green and he lurched over the railing in an unpleasant sight.

Yukino took a deep breath. She decided that the moment they arrived in Magnolia would be the time to make a completely new change. No longer would she be a pitiful, lonely little church girl that was bullied and picked on. She would become the beacon of hope that defends the beaten and the weak—a member of Fairy Tail! She finally stepped off the train, about to explode in her own excitement.

She rushed towards the others with a boost of speed… until something stopped her. Her steps soon faltered as a swirl of emotions suddenly burst inside of her.

[Despair]

[Panic]

[Regret]

[Lamentation]

She crouched on the ground, hugging her knees in confusion. The sudden barrage of heavy emotions attacked her relentlessly, until an incredibly warm presence washed them away, catching her attention. Time seemed to slow down as she saw a strikingly beautiful woman walk past her from the edge of her vision. With the peripheral view, she saw that the goddess had blonde hair that flowed like a gentle breeze. An instant later, a tear started trickling down Yukino's cheek.

"…Huh?"

She stared confusedly at the uncontrollable outburst of tears. A massive crowd broke the atmosphere and shoved their way out the train, quickly filling the station. Yukino turned back to see the mysterious person, but she disappeared without a trace.

"What…?"

She tried imagining what the woman looked like, but her mind was all fuzzy. Didn't she get a clear look of her face? She couldn't remember. Yukino frantically searched among the busy commuters for the woman, until a hand pressed onto her shoulder.

"Where did she—?"

"Yukino?"

Rogue recovered from his motion sickness; however, the current sight of her made him pale. With the tears rolling down her face, she looked like a lost child trying to find her parents.

"Are you okay?" Sting asked with a concerned look.

"Aah…" Yukino wiped her eyes and strained a small smile, "I-I'm fine, hehe. I was probably just so excited that I let my emotions get the better of me."

"Ah. I understand completely!" Sting maturely nodded his head with a huge grin plastered on his face. Today was the biggest day of their lives. How could they not be excited?

Rogue was skeptical. He looked at her observantly, "Were you looking for something?"

That was surely just a vision, and no one would believe her even if she told them. She also didn't want anything to interrupt their best day ever. "It might have just been my imagination, hehe…" She decided to say. "I'm just so glad that we're finally here!"

With an irritated sigh, Rogue glanced at Sting to see what he thought of Yukino's strange behavior, but he was instead staring deeply into the heart of the city.

"Home…" Sting said with a refreshed smile on his face, "I'm finally back."

What kind of face would Lucy make when he arrived? Knowing her, she would probably beat him up to a pulp and give a severely harsh scolding, followed by a painfully long lecture. He shuddered as a bead of sweat formed on his face, but he soon smirked at the thought. At least he finally became strong enough to fulfill his promise.

He remembered the spectacle under the moonlight. The memories of the two conversing. The night when he stood over the city and said his vow: "_I will be the one to protect you!"_

The fishermen on their boats waved to them as they passed by. Sting smiled as he saw Lucy's current apartment. Just a few more blocks until they would arrive at the gateway of Fairy Tail. Yukino and Rogue marveled at their surroundings as Sting's mind was set entirely on his promise. _Just wait for me…Lucy._

.

.

.

"Another beer."

A man's hoarse voice rung out at the bar. He glumly sat at a stool, setting aside another one of his mugs. At first, he started drinking excessively and drowned himself in beer to overcome his sorrow, but it soon developed into a bad drinking habit.

When Master and the others didn't come back after a few days, no one seemed particularly worried. Those days soon became weeks, and those weeks later turned into months. Not one word was received from Fairy Tail's core members. The guild was starting to get anxious and worried. The man volunteered to form a search party and sailed with the other guild members to the location of the S-class exams… but it was as if the whole island had never existed. Tenroujima was gone.

There was a huge panic and they called the other guilds for help, but not even Blue Pegasus or Lamia's Scale could find a trace of their existence. At first, everyone tried to stay strong and act normal, but without Fairy Tail's core members, the guild felt strangely empty. Fairy Tail's usual rowdiness disappeared, along with its members. Only those who truly considered the guild as family stayed behind.

The man continued to sip on his beer, as Wakaba pulled a seat next to him, "…Macao, you should stop drinking. You have a child to take care of."

The man's heart broke when Romeo learned of Natsu's death. He tried to console him, but Romeo continued to cry for 3 days straight. The only other time he's seen him like that was the time he lost his mother. He did as what Wakaba suggested and put the beer down.

"What are we going to do?" Wakaba asked seriously. "We're doing all the jobs we can, but at this rate, we still won't be able to make enough money to keep the guild hall. They're also expecting us to pay by the end of the month."

"I don't know." Macao sighed. "We might have to start packing our bags."

"…I was afraid you were going to say that." Wakaba smoked on his pipe.

"Macao-san!" The petite barmaid with violet colored hair appeared at their table, followed by three adorable children. She eagerly beamed, "These kids were looking for you!"

Macao looked at the three with a puzzled look. A silent kid with black hair was glancing at everyone warily. A cute little girl was shyly hiding behind him with a visible blue rose hairpin. Then there was an energetic boy with blonde spiky hair that gave off a nostalgic feeling. He had a very familiar look in his eyes, a burning passion to become stronger. It sort of reminded him of… Natsu.

_No… _He shook his head. _It's just my imagination._

"Thank you, Kinana." He nodded to her, as she proceeded to resume her work in the tavern. He turned to the three kids with a questioning gaze, "How can I help you?"

"Um... Are you the one in charge?" Yukino asked with a beet red face. She wasn't _exactly_ ready to make a completely new change just quite yet. When they reached the front of the guild, all of her earlier excitement turned to nervousness. She shook slightly at the thought of being rejected.

"He is our current guild master." Wakaba smirked.

_Guild Master!_ Sting's face immediately lit up. He had a hard time standing still ever since they've come to Magnolia. He'd been waiting a whole year for this day, the day he would officially become a full fledged member of the guild. "We wanna join Fairy Tail!" He shouted in pure excitement.

Yukino wanted to be excited, but she could only think of everything that could go wrong as she fidgeted with the hem of her skirt. She nervously bowed as Rogue merely nodded his head.

"A...are you sure?" Macao asked in disbelief, "We're not exactly—"

Wakaba elbowed Macao in the side and motioned for him to bend down. "_If they join, they'll be able to perform jobs!_" He whispered fiercely.

"_But they're just kids_."

"_We'll be able to pay off our debt, keep the guild hall from the shutting down, and boost our reputation all at the same_ _time."_ Wakaba smiled evilly,_ "It's like killing three birds with one stone_!"

"_Ah. That's actually not a bad idea_…" Macao whispered. He turned back towards the kids as they stared back innocently with a question mark floating over their heads. "Now… what colors would you guys like?" He put on his best smile as he pulled out the Insignia Stamp.

"YES!" Sting pumped his fists in the air. They made it into the guild!

Yukino let out a sigh of relief. She didn't manage to screw up or anything. She peered at Rogue smiling for the first time as he watched his best friend dance around in circles.

"Would you like to go first?" Macao beckoned towards Sting, who nodded vigorously in return. "All right, where would you like your guild stamp?"

Sting thought back to the time Natsu revealed the fiery red emblem on the side of his right arm. A Fairy Tail emblem tattooed on the opposite arm in the same exact spot flashed into his mind. He unconsciously gestured towards his left arm and pulled up his sleeve, "Right here. White."

Macao gave him another weird look. This kid really did remind him of Natsu. He bent down to his arm with the stamp, and threw in a conversation just to pass some time, "So what's your name?"

"Sting Eucliffe."

_Sting… _Macao furrowed his eyebrows. He was sure he heard that name somewhere before. _Where did I hear that?_ Something didn't add up. Macao put the stamp down and looked at Sting seriously, "…What made you want to join this guild so badly?"

"I made a promise to someone."

Macao's smile disappeared, "Who did you promise to?"

"Well her name is-"

"So it was a girl! Haha! Tell us _everything_!" Wakaba let out a hearty chuckle as put his arm around Sting's shoulder. "You lucky man, you! So what did you promise?"

Sting smiled back and answered honestly.

"I promised that I would protect Lucy from danger."

The sound of silverware breaking into pieces echoed throughout the guild hall.

.

.

.

The guild became dead silent. Kinana was washing the dishes until her hands abruptly stopped at the mention of Lucy's name. She stared at Sting along with the rest of the guild members as the tension continued to increase. Yukino and Rogue paled at the sudden change, but Sting seemed to be the only one unfazed.

"Where is she anyway? Is Natsu-san not here either?" Sting frowned. Wakaba let go of his pipe with a stunned expression as a wave of realization struck Sting's face, "Aaah! I can still surprise them! You guys have to keep this a secret from them, okay?"

Most of the guild members tried to carry on with their tasks and escape from reality, but many broke down in tears as their memories resurfaced too fast. Sting finally looked around and grasped the darkened atmosphere. He caught several of the guild members staring at him and whispering to each other. He could hear every single word with his enhanced dragon-like hearing.

_Isn't that the child Lucy kept searching for?_

_Poor boy…he must not know yet._

_Of all things, why did it have to be now?_

Sting started freaking out. His heart was racing. Something was definitely wrong and he knew it involved him somehow. With a resurfacing fear coming into mind, Sting was about to ask what the hell happened, until he heard something strange. Recognition of the sound gave him chills. It was a sound all too familiar; the sound of someone crying.

"Natsu-nii…" Tears formed in Romeo's eyes as he sniffled at the top of the stairs.

_Natsu-san and Lucy…What…?_ Sting had enough. All of his emotions burst, "What the hell happened!?"

Macao's face morphed into a painful expression when wondering what he should tell him. After a long silence passed and everyone's breath was still caught in their throats, Macao managed to force himself to look at Sting straight in the eye.

"-I'm sorry." He choked out as he proceeded to tell him the truth.

.

.

.

Sting couldn't accept such a reality. He broke out into a run and sprinted out of the opened guild doors. Rogue and Yukino called out from behind him, but he ignored them. His mind was racing; there was no way that she was dead. He absolutely refused to believe it. He dashed down the street and charged into Lucy's apartment.

"Lucy!" He yelled as he ran into her room.

Everything was exactly how he remembered it to be. The bed, the living room, the small bathroom—all of it remained untouched. The only thing missing was the blonde celestial spirit mage who dreamed of becoming a Fairy Tail wizard. His eyes carefully inspected the room as he noticed a small change.

There, on top of her writing desk, sat a small framed picture. Lucy, Natsu and Happy were in it, along with a scarlet-haired woman and a young shirtless man. Sting trembled at the sight as Lucy was smiling back at him, proudly showing off the pink Fairy Tail emblem on the back of her hand.

Rogue darted into the room and Yukino finally caught up with them with heavy breaths. Sting noticed their presence as he continued staring at the picture.

"…Lies. Isn't it? Rogue. It's only been one whole year since I left. Even if she was in trouble, Natsu-san saved her, right? Right? Isn't it? They're Fairy Tail wizards, so everyone came back, right? I wonder if Lucy is just working. Out on a job with Natsu-san. I'll head over there for a moment. I have to see Lucy. Say something, Rogue…"

Sting, who wanted to escape from the harsh reality, spun his words over and over again, repeatedly mentioning about searching for Lucy. Rogue grabbed hold of his arm and didn't let go. He had a sorrowful expression, but he stared hard at Sting.

"Sting, you understand right? …She's no longer here."

"Stop…"

"Sting, you have to remember."

"Just, stop."

"She, Lucy is-"

"No, stop…please, stop!"

"Sting! She's dead!"

_SMACK._

Rogue stared at him, somewhat stunned. Sting's hovered fist shook with rage. "You bastard!"

Rogue wiped the spit from his mouth and narrowed his eyes. Sting glared back at him, "She can't die! She definitely couldn't have! How could you say something so horrible? I promised that I would protect her! Even if it's you, I can never forgive—"

Yukino suddenly ran in between them. In that moment, she wrapped her arms around Sting and pulled him into a hug. She tossed Rogue a look that pleaded, '_Please, give us some time alone._' Rogue unwillingly grit his teeth and stormed out of the room, leaving the two behind.

Sting immediately tried shaking her off, determined to escape from her grasp. He was physically stronger than her, but Yukino refused to let go. She painfully continued to embrace Sting, trying to nurse him back to his normal and cheery self through her hug.

"Dammit, let go! Let me go! If I don't search for Lucy then… I'm telling you… she is definitely alive so…Let me go!"

Blindly thrashing around in rage to break free, he continued to shout even louder. Regardless of the pain, Yukino silently continued to hug him, hoping that her efforts would help ease just a little of his sorrow. After what seemed like hours, Sting finally dropped his face into her chest and sobbed.

…

How long did they stay like this? The sky, dyed red by the setting sun, peered through the window of the apartment. Sting was motionless in Yukino's arms. His temper had finally receded. Yukino was covered in bruises and her body ached, but that wasn't even the least bit of her concern.

"Sting-sama…"

"I promised that I would be the one to protect her…" He whispered in a voice so quiet that it sounded like it was going to disappear.

Sting, who was flooded with memories, had his heart shaken by the scene replaying over and over again in his mind. It was the spectacle under the moonlight. The memories of the two conversing. The night when he stood over the city and said his vow: "_I will be the one to protect you!_"

"In the end, I was unable to uphold my promise."

Yukino felt her stomach sink.

"If I never left, none of this would have ever happened."

"If you never left, I would have never met you. I wouldn't even be alive today, if it weren't for you." Yukino reminded him softly, "It's not your fault, so please stop blaming yourself! I'm sure she would have wanted you to be happy…"

"_Happy_?" He repeated with a completely flat voice. Yukino stopped breathing. She noticed the cloudy, faraway look in his eyes. "…I must never find happiness. I am bearing the weight of a sin that can never be forgiven."

Yukino didn't say a word. She knew, she instinctively knew that Sting wasn't really talking to her. His ultimate promise was shattered. His dream to protect the one person he considered as family was destroyed. Now, he was consoling himself with a weighted conscience.

"I left on a journey to become stronger, but…have I really become strong at all? I hurt everyone around me, even when I promised that we would be friends. A celestial spirit mage never breaks her promises, and yet… I broke several of mine. Now, I'll never see her again, because I couldn't protect anyone…!" Tears streamed down his face, "Natsu-san! Happy! Lucy! They're all _DEAD!_"

"I-I…" She couldn't muster up anything but a cracked voice from her throat. She never saw Sting in this state before. She didn't know what she could say. Even if she did say anything, Sting probably wouldn't even listen to her. She could ask Rogue for his help, but no. She shouldn't leave him alone like this. All she can do now is stay with him.

.

.

.

Hours passed and the night steadily approached. Only the moonlight, shining through the window, brought light to the darkened room. Yukino quietly watched over him sit still in the same position for a really long time. After thinking to herself for a while, she finally decided to break the silence.

"We…should probably go."

No response.

"Rogue-sama must still be waiting for us. We should look for him soon, right?"

The outline of his figure was completely still.

"Sting-sama?"

Silence.

Concerned, Yukino knelt in front of him to see what was wrong. When she saw his face, she froze up. His face was stoic and he absently stared at the dark void in front of him with frozen, lifeless eyes.

"Sting-!" Yukino covered her mouth with both her hands.

She saw this happen before. Back in her village.

Back when she was younger, there was a kind old woman she used to visit almost on a daily basis. The woman let Yukino sit on her lap and read stories to her every day. Her smiles melted the coldest hearts and she treated Yukino like her own grandchild. One day, her husband fell victim to an incurable illness and only had a small amount of time left to live. She stayed by his bedside, begging him not to leave her alone, only to be responded with an eerie silence.

The happy old woman became a saddened old widow.

Yukino visited her one day and brought along her favorite book to read, but no matter what she would say, the kind old woman would only peer out the window with blank-filled eyes. The whole town tried to gain back her attention, but to no avail. She sat in her cottage, staring at nothing for the rest of her life. Yukino lost someone important to her that day.

With a wound that even time cannot heal; Sting was on the verge of becoming an empty shell of himself. He must not go to that other side, into that consuming dark void. She must bring him back to reality at all costs!

"Sting-sama, snap out of it! Please don't lose yourself!"

He sat in the same position with eyes fixated on the space before him. His gaze didn't even reach her tear-filled eyes.

What could she say to bring back his attention? Yukino took a deep breath. She has to stay calm; otherwise she won't be able to think. Out of reflex, she held onto something dangling around her neck and squeezed it tight. _Stay calm_, she told herself. _Just do the thing you always do to stay calm._ Yukino breathed in deeply and finally relaxed. She looked over Sting and began to wonder if he had anything to relieve his stress. _Wait, that's it!_

"Sting-sama…" She took out the small figure from the inside of her shirt. "…Do you know what this is?" In her hand was a tiny silver pendant carved into the shape of a cross. She hoped to see some sort of reaction from him, even a small twitch, but there was no change at all.

A little disheartened, she continued. "This pendant belonged to Ciel, patron of the shipwrecked. A kind priest gave it to me at my family's funeral, as I was lost in a sea of grief. He told me back then I just had to close my eyes, hold the pendant and think of my parents or of my sister and I would feel better."

She smiled bitterly, "And so I did. Over the years when I was thinking I was all alone in this world, without a place where I belonged—when it was all just too much—I held this pendant tight and thought about my older sister who filled me with so much hope. I was hoping to see her again almost every day." She took his hand and placed the silver pendant in his palm.

"I want you to have it." A reminiscent smile spread on her lips, "All you have to do is close your eyes, hold the pendant, and think of Lucy-sama, and you'll feel better! So that's why…"

After Yukino noticed his expression, her eyes opened wide. She slowly closed her mouth and lost all feeling in her knees. She tried to control herself, pushed some tears away and put on a strained smile. "That's why you should keep it. It helped me lots, even when I was a little roughed up…so… what thoughts d..do you ha.. have?"

In the end, she was barely able to keep her composure. Sting continued sitting in front of her, motionless. There was no change at all. Nothing affected him. He stared past her as if she was invisible. Yukino lost. All of her attempts were futile. Sting had done so much for her, but she couldn't even do a single thing for him. She was so useless, and she hated herself for that. Sting was the one who brought light to her world, and now he was gone.

"Please… don't leave me alone too..."

Together, yet alone, Yukino sank her head in her knees as sobs racked her entire body.

* * *

**A/N: **...

I'm emotionally torn right now.

Sorry for cliff-hanger.

Next Chapter: **Light Casts a Shadow -Part 2-**

Finale of [Sting].


	9. Light Casts a Shadow -Part 2-

~PREVIOUSLY ON THE LAST CHAPTER~

_Sting continued sitting in front of her, motionless. There was no change at all. Nothing affected him. He stared past her as if she was invisible. __Yukino lost. All of her attempts were futile. Sting had done so much for her, but she couldn't even do a single thing for him. She was so useless, and she hated herself for that. Sting was the one who brought light to her world, and now he was gone._

_"Please… don't leave me alone too..."_

_Together, yet alone, Yukino sank her head in her knees as sobs racked her entire body._

* * *

**LIGHT CASTS A SHADOW**

✧. **Part 2**

* * *

On top of a writing desk, sitting in a small earthen cup, laid a beautifully handicrafted letter encased in a small envelope. The apartment became less darkened as it emitted a soft glowing light.

Speckles of shining orbs flowed out of the letter and swirled around the room. They split into tinier, azure balls of lights and slowly filled the dark atmosphere like miniature stars. Yukino stopped crying and froze at the sight of the glowing spectacle. She unconsciously touched one of the orbs floating next to her and flinched when it dissolved into the air.

The lights bobbed up and down in the air in two parallel lines, constructing a path towards a plain old writing desk. Confused and a bit surprised, Yukino followed the lights in front of her with her eyes until it suddenly stopped at the glowing letter on the desk. All of her sorrow briefly forgotten for now; she stepped closer and examined the strange object.

She was hesitant at first, and her heart was racing, but curiosity won her over. She opened the envelope to unlock its mysteries.

"_**Dear Mom…"**_

It was a voice: pure, dreamy, feminine… and soft.

And energy, unlike any she had felt before, flowed through her as she held onto the letter.

Unknown fragments and tiny tidbits started flowing into her head. She saw a collection of memories of a beautiful girl writing letters about her countless adventures at the guild and worries about a little boy, over several months, all in an instant.

Yukino was at a loss for words. "What is this…?"

The writing desk suddenly shook uncontrollably. A myriad of glowing letters burst out of the drawers and swarmed around her. They encased Yukino in a rotating wall of papers before a pillar of light came crashing down on top of her.

A piercing scream escaped from her mouth, surprise and horror, as everything in the apartment vanished.

And all was dark…

.

.

.

It was… quiet.

And peaceful.

Yukino slowly forced herself back onto her feet, struggling to take in her surroundings.

Everything around her was white, but she could make out a huge grandiose mansion in the distance.

"Where… am I?"

«_The very core of these heartfelt letters._»

It was that voice again! Yukino spun around, only to see a very odd sight.

A little girl with short blonde hair, a small pink dress, warm brown eyes and a happy smile. She could only be around 6 or 7 years old, but her eyes shone with the intelligence of the universe.

The little girl giggled.

"Who… or what are you?" Yukino asked, a little bit startled.

The little girl gave a friendly smile, «_You could say I am a part of Lucy's SOUL. The most pure part of the body, represented by the most pure and innocent incarnation of her memories. In this case, Lucy, when she was six, before her mother died._»

"…Soul?" Yukino was dumbfounded. "So then… you're an angel?"

«_Angel? You sure are funny~!_» The little girl laughed again, «_I'm only a small fragment of Lucy Heartfilia's SOUL. The very essence of purity formed by the strong emotions left in the letters to her deceased mother._» The little girl shook her head, «_All her memories, joy, lament and emotions in these letters, those are all me. I am Lucy, but I am not._»

Yukino only nodded, too amazed for words.

«…_You see, the real reason why I brought you here is to ask for your help._» The little girl smiled sadly. «_In almost all of her letters, Lucy would always ask her mother to watch over Sting and protect him. Lucy's main concern is for Sting to come back home safely, but right now, even as we speak, Sting is in terrible danger._»

Yukino's awe quickly faded. Her spine chilled when she recalled Sting's broken state, but what really pulled at her heartstrings was how she couldn't do a single thing to help him. Never before had she ever felt so useless. This was just a lot to take in.

"Sting is in terrible danger?" She asked nervously.

«_From Lucy's memory, Sting is a very warm-hearted person, always thinking of others before himself. In reality, he is the White Dragon Slayer… but sometimes even the brightest light can cast the darkest shadow._»

"What… do you mean?"

The SOUL waved her hands in the air and a small crystal ball formed in front of her. It floated towards Yukino.

"Ah…"

Heavy emotions ran through Yukino's head, yet she could make out the item in the orb. The item, that thing… it was a boy sitting alone in solitude, his lifeless eyes peering straight into the endless dark void. It took her several seconds to realize that she was staring at Sting.

«_A large cloud has cast a shadow over his heart._» The SOUL explained, «_He has already become trapped in the belief that he must never find happiness… but soon the darkness will make him close his heart to the world._» The SOUL closed her eyes, «_In other words… he will wither away to nothing._»

Yukino froze.

She understood what the SOUL in the form of a little girl was trying to tell her, but she shook her head at it. This was just a lot to take in. No matter how hard she tried to wish it all away, the expression on her face wasn't one of someone telling a joke.

_No no no no no no no_

"Isn't there anything we can do!?" Yukino pleaded, "There has to be some way to save him! Things just can't end like this!"

«…_There is a way_.» A small ball of light formed from the girl's hands. «_This will be able to save him, but it will come with a price too great… This is the only solution that I have been able to come up with; however, the choice will be yours to make._»

Yukino looked at the ball of light with a tiny sense of hope, "What is it?"

«_This is known as a Dragon Lacrima. When absorbed by the body, the bearer will gain incredible power and magic taught by the dragons themselves. However, when used on an already existing dragon slayer, it will further increase his combat capabilities and unlock his inner potential._»

"Um… what's so wrong about it?" She pondered, "Won't Sting-sama only benefit from this—?" Yukino stopped when she noticed the SOUL girl's incredibly sad expression. Tears welled up in the girl's eyes.

.

«_This is a very special kind of Dragon Lacrima._»

She further explained, trying to hold back her tears.

«_The Dragon Lacrima will _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ all of his _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _. _

_He won't _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _in the end…_

_It will be as if _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ had never _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _._

_If Sting uses this, he will surely be saved._»

_._

"…!"

Yukino fell to her knees in despair. No words could come out of her mouth. All of her hope quickly diminished… _Why? __I don't know what to do! __What do I do!?_

He was the first person to call her a friend, and yet… she couldn't do a single thing to help him after all this time. Now she's given the chance to save him, but would this really be the right thing to do? To remove something so precious, how could she do that…?

It's true that this will make Sting go back to normal, but she won't be able to look at him the same way ever again.

**One choice will make her a traitor and the other will lead to his own self-destruction.**

"I—I…"

After all this time, Sting had always been the one protecting her. But this time, she won't be the one hiding, afraid to stand up for herself. Even if he does end up hating her in the end—this time, she will be the one to protect him!

"I WON'T LET HIM DIE!"

The little girl smiled as she extended her hands towards the ball of light.

«…_I understand._»

.

.

.

Yukino watched as the glow of the magic enveloped the small ball of light. She waited patiently as the light started to expand within each passing second. Yukino smiled to herself, _With this, Sting-sama will be saved…_

Something was wrong.

Yukino suddenly yelled in horror, "What… what are you doing!?"

A little girl with short blonde hair, a small pink dress, warm brown eyes and a happy smile. She could only be around 6 or 7 years old, but she was missing an arm and both of her legs were fading away. As she extended her palm towards the ball of light with her remaining arm, she was becoming slightly transparent.

The little girl happily smiled.

«_I'm using the remainder of this SOUL's energy to create the Dragon Lacrima._»

"B-but what's going to happen to you!?" Yukino cried. "You have to stop this! I don't want to sacrifice anyone! There has to be another way—" Yukino tried pulling the girl's arm away from the ball of light, but her hands phased right through her arm.

The little girl giggled.

«_Remember what I said earlier?_» She laughed, «_I am Lucy, but I am not… I am a subconscious formed by the strong emotions left in the letters to her deceased mother. I'm just a teeny-weeny fragment of her SOUL, much like a tiny shard of broken glass._»

"…..I—" Yukino sniffled.

Everything under her stomach had disappeared, absorbed by the ball of light. Her face was just beginning to fade away; yet, she kept on smiling.

The little girl brought her hand onto the side of Yukino's face, «_You are a very kind girl with a noble heart… so please don't let your kindness interfere with your judgment. With this, Sting will finally be able to return home safely! You have to watch over Sting and protect him._»

"I… I promise!"

The little girl gave a thumbs up and showed Yukino the warmest, brightest smile she could muster…

«_Thank you…_»

As she finally faded away completely, the ball of light materialized and fell to the ground with a clink. Yukino gazed at the glowing orb in front of her for what seemed like an eternity.

_**You should smile. That's the last thing you can show to the people you love.**_

Her mind was completely blank. The only word that surfaced in her head was, "Why?"

Why did she do this?

Why did all of this have to happen to her?

Why did she have to keep experiencing the same thing over and over again!?

[Despair]

[Panic]

[Regret]

[Lamentation]

Various emotions swirled around her head as she crouched on the ground. The shaking in her body wouldn't stop. She was about to commit a taboo. To use this girl's sacrifice to save another's life—why must a criminal like her feel this guilt? The glowing orb held so much responsibility, but this was her the last chance to save Sting.

As she picked up the White Dragon Lacrima, an incredibly warm presence washed away the heavy emotions, catching her attention. Time seemed to slow down as she saw a strikingly beautiful woman standing before her. Yukino's eyes widened. It was the same little girl from before, only this time she was older and looked the exact same from the picture in the apartment. Grown-up Lucy smiled gently before enveloping her in the warm glow of magic and fading away in a flash of light.

A tear started trickling down Yukino's cheek. _She's okay…_ She smiled. That soul girl showed herself to Yukino show that everything was alright—that everything was going to be okay. She was so relieved that an uncontrollable amount of tears flowed out from her eyes.

_She's an angel…_

A massive crowd broke the atmosphere and shoved their way out of the train, quickly filling the station. Yukino caressed the glowing orb and slipped it into her pocket, until a hand pressed onto her shoulder.

"Yukino?"

Rogue recovered from his motion sickness; however, the current sight of her made him pale. With the tears rolling down her face, she looked like a lost child trying to find her parents.

A sudden realization hit Yukino.

_No way… _

"Are you okay?" Sting asked with a concerned look.

_I… came back._

Yukino stared at the two dragon slayers in utter shock.

.

.

.

More tears streamed out of her eyes, "Sting-sama!"

"Eh!?"

Sting was caught completely off-guard when Yukino suddenly crashed into him and embraced him into a tight hug. He was overwhelmed by her tears and didn't know what to say, but he sensed the uneasiness that inflicted Yukino. He gently patted her back, listening to her heartwrenching sobs.

"Y-you're back to normal… I-I'm so glad you're okay!"

Sting was puzzled, _Normal?_ Was he really that bad on the train? He really couldn't remember anything because he partially blacked out, but did he really do something so unforgiveable to make Yukino this upset? _Damn, my motionsickness._

He looked at Rogue for help, but he turned out to be even more confused than he was. Rogue tried to grasp the current situation, but he noticed the passerbys giving them very strange looks. Sting watched as Rogue slowly inched away from him with an extremely awkward smile.

_Tch._ Sting glared at his fleeing partner, _Dammit Rogue… Don't pretend you don't know us!_

It seemed that Yukino had a considerably scary experience, but she was still trembling a bit and hadn't calmed down. Because of that, he took her to a nearby café and they sat there to calm her down.

"I'm sorry…" She said quietly.

"Nah, I should be the one apologizing. Sorry for worrying you!" He scratched the back of his neck. "…I really can't remember what I did on the train, but I'm sure whatever Rogue did was way worse."

"Oi…" Rogue grabbed the neckline of his shirt and smiled with a vein popping out of his forehead. "What did you say?"

"Haha, you wanna fight?" The two butted heads against each other.

Yukino stopped crying and laughed warmly at the scene, which made of the two of them stop. She wiped her tears away, "Welcome back, Sting-sama!"

Yukino always had this charm that made Sting treat her like a little sister. Like an older brother, he can't bear seeing her cry. Sting and Rogue smiled at each other. Their usual antics made her go back to normal. After they finished eating, Rogue paid the tab using their rewards from the _Tsuin Taiga_. Well, now that she was all cheery again, it was time for Sting to get a little more serious. After coming this far, he still had something to do.

Sting stared deeply into the heart of the city.

"Home…" Sting said with a refreshed smile on his face, "I'm finally back."

"…?"

"We're finally going to join Fairy Tail!"

The mention of Fairy Tail made her stumble backwards in shock. A flashback of the recent events whittled before her eyes.

_The apartment._

_His broken state._

_The letters._

_The White Dragon Lacrima…_

They absolutely cannot go to that guild! Yukino felt a warm glow radiating inside the pocket of her dress. The White Dragon Lacrima. _That's right… _Heavy emotions swarmed through her head as Yukino reached for the orb, _This will surely save him_...

Sting and Rogue were heading towards the guild, until they noticed Yukino standing alone, back on the street. The upper half of her face was hidden by the shadows covering her hair.

"Sting-sama…"

She slowly approached Sting with a smile plastered on her face, which didn't reach the eyes.

"Is there something wrong?" Sting asked.

He could still sense that something was troubling her greatly. She hasn't been herself recently, ever since they came to Magnolia. This morning, she was so excited about joining Fairy Tail, but now…

"…"

Yukino took out a mysterious glowing white orb. Inside it was the symbol of a dragon in a swirling pattern of light. The more Sting watched it, it shone a bit brighter.

"That's…!"

Rogue suddenly rushed forward and inspected the lacrima. He frantically looked at Sting, who had a dumbfounded expression.

"You know what this is?" Sting asked.

"This is a Dragon Lacrima!" Rogue explained, "They're incredible rare and enhance your dragon slayer magic. The power you get is extraordinary and you'll be able to unleash your full potential. I know it from experience."

"You have one too?!"

"I had one implanted in me when I was younger…" He looked at her suspiciously, "How did Yukino manage to get this?"

Yukino ignored Rogue's questioning gaze and stared at the ground.

"…Sting-sama." She murmured. "Do you want to become stronger?"

"Well, yeah, but—"

Yukino desperately shoved the lacrima in front of his face. Sting barely avoided it by a hair's length.

"Whoa! W-Wait!" He dodged as she kept thrusting the shining orb towards him.

"If you want to become stronger then… please absorb the White Dragon Lacrima! Please take it! You have to take it! This will make Sting-sama much stronger—so please take it! You need to take this! If you don't, then you'll…"

"Yukino, stop it!" Sting dodged the thrusts while grabbing her arm, only to look at her in shock. Her face was streaming with tears and she was shaking harder than ever before.

"—please…" Yukino pleaded.

Something was bothering Yukino this whole time. It was only then that Sting realized that after all this time, she was worrying about him. If it's something like this then…

"Okay," He said while taking the orb, "…I trust you."

Yukino flinched as Sting held the the White Dragon Lacrima out in front of him. He took a deep breath and embraced the shining orb. The warm glow of its magic enveloped around Sting as it went right inside his chest. In an intense rush, he remembered movements he never learned, and abilities he never had. He forgot things he knew and learned what had been lost in time.

As Sting slowly discovered the extent of his newly enhanced powers and abilities, Yukino whispered inaudibly with sorrow in her eyes, "I'm sorry…"

.

.

.

All of his emotions burst, "What the hell happened!?"

After Yukino finished giving Sting the lacrima, she planned to watch over him carefully from now on and protect him, just as she promised. They went to Fairy Tail like they planned and she made sure to act and do everything the exact same way she did before, just to be safe.

They already passed the point where Macao was just about to give Sting the guild stamp, until he asked why he wanted to join the guild. When Sting mentioned Natsu's name, the whole guild went quiet and bursted into tears, just like last time. Even though it was still heart-wrenching to see this whole scene again, Yukino did a mental sigh of relief, _Nothing wrong so far…_

Macao's face morphed into a painful expression when wondering what he should tell him. After a long silence passed and everyone's breaths were still caught in their throats, Macao managed to force himself to look at Sting straight in the eye.

"-I'm sorry." He choked out as he proceeded to tell him the truth.

...

This was the part Yukino dreaded.

"I see…" Sting murmured, "So Natsu-san is dead…"

After this, Sting is supposed to run out of the guild and Yukino and Rogue chase after him… but what happened next was completely out of Yukino's expectations.

"Hahahaha Ahahahahahaha!" Sting started laughing hysterically. "HahahaHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Everyone in the guild hall stared at him.

"What…?" Macao gawked.

"…What a joke! He told me that he used his magic to protect his friends… but the best part is that he couldn't even protect himself!" Sting held his stomach to keep himself from laughing, "I can't believe I actually looked up to a flaming idiot like him!"

"S..Stop it!" Romeo cried, "Stop saying bad stuff about Natsu!"

"Do you wanna know the truth, Shorty?" His face darkened, "…Natsu is just a poor excuse of a wizard who let stupid things like friendship and trust get in his way. He was a pathetic failure."

With those words, the entire guild's attitude changed. Most of the members hurled themselves at Sting in pure anger for the honor of their loved ones.

"What did you say!? This brat!"

"It looks like he won't take back what he said unless he feels some pain!"

"Die! You!"

_It's time to test out my new power,_ Sting smirked. While he was thinking, one guy came and aimed a punch towards him.

_So Slow!_ Sting laughed to himself. His movement could be seen completely. Sting had thoroughly trained himself every day with intense training, and the Lacrima only multiplied his hard work. When he recalled the gruesome training he endured all these months, to the point he had a distant look on his face, the fist came closer to him.

While he avoided the fist that came punching down, he grabbed his arm and swept his leg. As he did that, the guy turned, rotated in midair, and crashed on his head without any resistance.

_Holy crap, he didn't die, did he?_

The remaining guild members who saw this became even more outraged, and finally resorted to using magic.

Sting provoked them, "Come at me!"

_Sting-sama…_Yukino watched the scene in a daze. _No. He's much different…_

She finally understood what she meant by 'watch over Sting and protect him'. How ironic was this? She helplessly watched Sting easily crush the guild that his main goal in life was to join. Rogue could only shake his head at the one-sided beating. Dragon Lacrimas were frightening things. Before long, Sting stood before a pile of bodies, without using any of his spells.

"I don't need to waste magic on weaklings…" Sting said arrogantly. "Let's go."

"—_Agh-_ W-wait a moment." Macao choked up some blood. "Your name—Sting Eucliffe. I-I remember it now!"

Sting looked at him, slightly curious. "What is it old man?"

"You… Are you that child—The one that Lucy kept searching for? _-Ugh-_ D..Did you know that before the incident… Lucy never once stopped looking for you? She searched for you on her quests and asked all around if anyone knew about your whereabouts..." He hoped his words would reach the boy, "Are... Are you him?"

The creature in front of him was a young, wild beast. Everything about that poor, innocent boy was gone. The miasmic embrace of his eyes sent a chill down his spine… "Who the hell is Lucy?"

* * *

END of ARC 1 -STING-


	10. One Little Step

**A/N****:** Here is the epilogue of Arc 1. After writing multiple versions of this chapter, I realized how much better my writing has improved. Hahaha! What's editing? Well anywaaaays, please have mercy on this EVIL author's slow updating speed. Thanks for all the love and morale support~!

NOTE: This is a prologue for Arc 2 -Lucy-

* * *

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima does.

* * *

**LIGHT CASTS A SHADOW**

✧. Epilogue

* * *

**Chapter 10: ONE LITTLE STEP**

A few months later—

"_A-Achoo! Ugggggghhhhhhhhhh!"_

Rogue heard Yukino's retching as he sat next to her bedside. With a concerned look, he carefully placed a wet towel on her forehead. She was still burning up, but he could feel the fever's effects lessening. When her coughing fit became less tense, he asked her a simple question.

"How do you feel?"

"F-feel?" Then came the exaggerated response, "I feel -_urk_\- like coughing up my insides..."

"That's a huge improvement," Rogue said. "Yesterday you said you felt like you were going to die."

"... I still do."

Yukino removed the towel and slowly rose up from the bed. She was barely holding up with her two shaking legs supporting her. As she swayed lightly towards the door, Rogue acknowledged what she what she was going to do and let out a sigh.

He crossed his arms, "What are you doing?"

"What else?" She croaked, "I need to -_urp-_ watch over Sting-sama!"

"You don't honestly expect to go looking for him in that condition."

"It's my fault everything turned out like this. I have no choice."

"Sting should be fine one day without us. Go back to bed."

"NO, I CAN'T!" She yelled, glaring all over at him. Unspent tears threatened to leak out of her feverish brown eyes. "It's too dangerous leaving him by himself! He could pass out again... Or get himself in trouble. Or start another fight! OR destroy an entire town! OR—!"

"—You're still in no shape to go anywhere," He said. To prove his point, he lightly poked her forehead and she immediately lost her balance, falling powerlessly back onto the bed. "The clinic's only a few days away, and you're still too weak to travel. Besides, Sting already left and should be rushing back any moment with the Ygdrassil pill."

"I know... but was it really okay to leave him alone like this?"

"He'll be fine." He assured her. "After all, he needs some time to think about the future by himself."

"... This is all my fault." She placed her hot face into her hands.

Rogue lasped into silence, as did she. For a period of a minute, the two of them sat in an awkward stillness. After the incident, Yukino eventually decided to tell Rogue _everything_ about the Dragon Lacrima, which brought a little bit of peace to her mind. However, they concluded that the truth would surely send Sting to his doom. From then on, Lucy's existence became a secret known only between the two of them.

After parting with his former dream guild, Sting no longer had any goals. Although he pretends to be perfectly fine, he became more arrogant, frustrated and often confused. Without any dreams or a set goal, he eventually reverted back to his original self: Untrusting. Coldhearted. And forever wandering without a purpose.

Grabbing up fistfuls of the wrinkled bedsheets, Yukino weakly wrapped her shivering self and turned away from his gaze, "Rogue-sama... If I didn't give him the Dragon lacrima that time, if he was still back to normal self... what would we be like now?"

"Who knows?" Rogue shrugged. "No matter what happens, that idiot is still my best friend. He promised that we would always be together, so there's no way I could ever leave him alone like this. The only thing we can do now is watch over him and find a way to bring him back to normal... Even if I have to constantly smack him over the head a few times." He smirked, but his face fell when he couldn't bring out the same elicit response from the girl.

It was awkward when they were alone together. _What should I do?_ Rogue rapidly reminisced through his experiences of talking to the opposite gender and most of them led to a similar conclusion._ Ask._ Ask nicely and politely but firmly. Let her know that he is aware that something is bothering her and that she should share her thoughts so he can understand better.

"Is there something on your mind?" He gamely tried again. "If there is something troubling you, it is alright to speak out loud. I will listen."

Yukino blinked, a shadow passing across her face. For a moment there, she hesitated and Rogue held his breath. Then she spoke, her voice shrill and uncomfortable. The conflict within her passed and everything came bursting out.

"Can... Can you stop being so kind to me?" Her voice was strained, filled with a pained request as she hid herself in the blanket. "I'm so useless! I don't even deserve to be forgiven."

"... Why do you have to think like that?"

"Well... Because I'm just a burden." It was an unintented choice of words that shocked both Rogue and herself. "I... I'm sorry. It's all my fault. Everything's my fault. I'll do everything you say—I'll even go back to sleep. So Rogue-sama, please... don't ...hate me..."

"_Hate _you?" He stammered a little. What was he being all worked up for? Rogue shook his head, "None of this was even your fault. If I were in your shoes, I would have done the same thing. If it wasn't for you, Sting would have been completely broken beyond repair."

Yukino finally brought herself to look up at him, "... Really?"

"Yeah." He said. "From now on, we'll just have to protect Sting together."

When he first met Yukino, he found her cheerful personality and positive attitude almost as irritating as Sting's. _What could she possibly be so happy about?_ They were polar opposites. It was only after learning of the traumatic experiences and hardships she's gone through that his opinion of Yukino changed. He even learned that her everyday smile in front of others was just a mask to hide her weaknesses.

This time, however, was different. Right now, he could feel that the pure hearted girl in front of him was smiling genuinely... and it made him happy. For the first time in his life, he experienced the desire to protect someone's smile. Yukino's _real_ smile.

.

.

.

"What do I want to do?" Sting asked himself as he sat against a rock on top of the hill. The medicine pouch idly dangled from his hand as he stopped and took a moment to think about everything that happened so far.

* * *

.✧.✦.✧.

* * *

After leaving Magnolia, he started helping Yukino find out the whereabouts of her long lost sister to no avail. Everywhere they looked, no one had any idea or clue who or where she could be. However; It wasn't a total waste of time, because Yukino actually gained a new power.

Not too long ago, he knocked over a stupid old woman that was in his way, which caused Yukino to nag at him and help her back up. That old hag gave him the evil eye, but she firmly grasped onto Yukino's hands in gratitude. She sensed that Yukino had a natural talent and strong affinity towards celestial spirits from the moment they touched. At the last moment, she made Yukino her successor and passed away peacefully, leaving them with 3 celestial gate keys: 2 gold plus 1 black snake.

It turned out that the spirits Yukino received were keys of the zodiac. To his amazement, she performed a contract with both of the golden gate keys: Pisces and Libra, but she said that the other golden gate key with the ebony black serpent coiled around it spooked her. She felt like its daunting power would somehow _consume_ her, so she would avoid it for now until the time was right. Sting thought she was just being too careful, but the concept of summoning a meatshield during battle greatly thrilled him.

However; after staring at those celestial gate keys, he found himself in a dream-like trance. He felt _unusual_. He had this uneasy feeling in his gut that _knew_ that he saw those keys before, but at the same time, he didn't. He tried to think back to the time where he saw those keys, but he suddenly got a piercing headache. His memories were all blurred and everything was obscured. The further he tried to unlock his memories, the more intense his headache became; up to the point that it felt like a dagger grinding and twisting into his mind. At that moment, all he could register was pain and he collapsed onto the ground.

"_Sting!_" Rogue and Yukino ran up to him.

His mind was disordered. Chaos. He couldn't make sense of anything.

His vision was blurring. Unable to perceive the world around him, it was all a mess of light and colors.

His hearing was fuzzy. Yukino and Rogue bombarded him with an almagation of sounds, their incomprehensible questions of concern were at the same time both a whisper and a roar.

Everything turned black in an instant. He was all alone. All he had remaining was a faint sense of self-awareness. He was confused, but not panicked; curious, but still alert. His perception of time was warped and he had no idea how long he stayed like this: An hour? A day? A whole year? He didn't know. Then suddenly a light flashed before his eyes.

And then he could see _her_.

A familiar, yet unknown presence. It was a beautiful teen girl with flowing blonde hair holding out her hand towards him. He didn't know this stranger, but she seemed so familiar. She smiled at him and Sting felt a surge of warmth blossom from the empty void in his heart. He was captivated by her. Drawn to her. He wanted to reach out and grab her hand in return. He needed to find out who she was.

But before their hands could touch, he was immediately brought back to reality. He found himself sitting on the ground as Yukino and Rogue surrounded him, asking if he was feeling okay. Sting's mind, however, was a mess. Was it all a dream? Or was it a vision? Sting never saw her again and the whole event slipped away into the back of his mind.

After contracting with her spirits, Yukino succumbed to a rare illness that potentially threatened her ability to use magic. It was decided that since Sting was the fastest, he would retrieve the cure while Rogue watched over Yukino.

* * *

.✧.✦.✧.

* * *

Sting lied down on his back watching the clouds, thinking about current circumstances. He noticed Rogue and Yukino privately talking about 'stuff' without him each passing day. Judging by their shifting glances and lowered voices, he could tell that they were secretly talking about him. With his enhanced dragon-like hearing, he could hear small tidbits of every word they said. But when he tried entering their conversation, they would always attempt to change the subject, which caused Sting to feel a small distance in their relationship.

_Did you really think I would be surprised?_ He wanted to say.

_I've seen and heard so much. How could I not realize? It ocurred to me some time ago that something happened to me. Everyone wanted me to stay ignorant... Whatever happened, they wouldn't tell me I lost my memories. If everyone knew, and they were hiding it from me... It would mean that they found me unworthy of their trust. _

So he closed his eyes. It was better to be a naive friend than a friend who couldn't be trusted. He left them alone after that. He wasn't wanted there. He could tell by that twisted expression on their faces. It was the same exact—sickening expression that everyone gave to the wandering little boy after parting from his dragon.

Go away.

Leave us alone.

We dont want you here.

... He was lonely. Even after coming this far with his friends, he was still alone. He had no one by his side, no one he could talk to. The sense of loneliness was hurting him. Sometimes he wished that he could at least have someone to talk to...

As he laid against the rock deep in thought, he could hear a loud wailing from a distance.

"Sting-kun! STING-KUN!" A crying cat in a white vest came running over to him.

He smiled. "Were you bullied again, Lector?"

Lector. A small baby red cat that came from the Village of Exceeds, seeking adventure. When they first met, Sting saved him from getting eaten by a carnivorous chicken. They parted ways, but Sting soon saved the small feline again from drowning in a river, flowing towards a waterfall. He was a little pissed off at the cat's carelessness, so he separated from the kitten... only to rescue him again from a bunch of dangerous looking thugs.

Curiosity really does kill a cat. Well, he later found out that Lector was his self-proclaimed 'Number One Fan' and had been secretly following him ever since they met. Absorbed by his praise and enjoying his company, Sting and Lector quickly became friends.

"Waaaaah! No body believes me!" He cried, "I told them that you beat a dragon, Sting-kun! I'm not lying about it!"

"I know. Never mind jerks like that."

"I can't! They were saying bad things about you, Sting-kun! They even said that you cheated in the tournament!"

"I dont care." He shrugged.

"I... I... I hate it when people say bad things about my friend!"

Sting was surprised by the exceed's revelation. Lector genuinely cared about him and even defended him from other people. It was then Sting began to realize that during all the small moments they had together, he never had the smallest sense of loneliness. He had a faithful companion all along. Sting calmly made up his mind as he stroked the cat's head.

"Okay. Then I'll prove you're not a liar." He smirked.

"Eh?" Lector peered up at him in surprise with tears coming out of his eyes.

"There may not be any more dragons, but there is somebody called 'Salamander', right?" Sting finally knew what he wanted to do. "That stubborn bastard will come back someday, I feel it. When he does, I'll beat him, right in front of everybody!"

Lector stared back at his role model, taking a moment to absorb all his words. When he finally understood and grasped the meaning of his words, he started crying again with happy tears.

He solemnly looked into the exceed's eyes, "**I promise!**—"

Sting suddenly clutched his head as he felt a painful jolt in his cranium. A sudden flash of light appeared before his eyes in an instant.

**_A celestial spirit mage never breaks her promises!_**

"... Sting-kun?" Lector poked him.

He sat perfectly still against the rock. _What... What on Earthland was that?_

Lector began to panic, "Are you alright, Sting-kun?!"

"Oh. Ah... I'm fine. It's nothing. I was just remembering something, that's all. " He gave a signature smirk, "We still have to deliver the medicine to my friend though... Then I'll work hard to show everyone the power that killed a dragon!"

With a loud cheer, the two companions set off on their journey back home.

_What's happening to me..._ Sting asked himself silently.

.

✧. A few days later ✦

.

"_Sting-kun_..."

Sting leered back at his opponent as he tucked Lector's injured body within his arm. The colossal old man with a bare, muscular upper body stood over them with terrifying magic power, but Sting still held his ground. Suddenly ambushed by that gigantic explosion, he only managed to shield Lector by a small fraction. He silently apologized to his friend for not being able to fully protect him.

"So you're the rumored kid that won the _Tsuin Taiga_, hmm..." The old giant stroked his white beard.

"Why did you attack us?" He asked, filled with hostility.

"Interesting. You took that attack still standing. I merely wanted to see how powerful you are to see if the rumors were true."

"I'm in a hurry right now." Sting said in an eerie calm as he converted all of his rage into willpower, "If you attack us one more time, I will end this pathetic fight of yours right here and now. If you seriously want to test my strength, then I wll not hold back. Just understand this: There are no second chances. You only live once."

_... He's serious. _Jiemma realized, staring back into those cold eyes. They were the eyes of a predator; emotionless, without compromise or compassion. The large old man knew those eyes well; he saw them every time he looked into a mirror.

"Ho ho ho! You sure have guts for such a small kid." He boomed with an approving tone. "I'm recruiting elite fighters all over Fiore to join me. How would you like to join the world's _strongest_ guild?"

* * *

And then, SEVEN YEARS passed...

* * *

**A/N:** Sting's promise to Lector is canon. Next arc shows a lot of promise! It's going to take me some time to write this one ;0

✧. Arc 1 -Sting- | END.

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✦. Arc 2 -Lucy- | START?

Next Chapter: **Fateful Reunion**


	11. Arc 2 -Lucy-: Fateful Reunion

**A/N: **The story finally begins... Arc 2 -Lucy- !

Let the time-skip commence! SEVEN YEARS PASS. Thank you guys for all the wonderful reviews~ The StiCy ship is the only ship that sails! :D

**Genres: **This story also consists Friendship, Humor, Drama &amp; Adventure (Along with Romance &amp; Hurt/Comfort)

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**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima does.

* * *

_**LIGHT CASTS A SHADOW**_

✦. Arc 2 - [Lucy]

* * *

**Chapter 11: FATEFUL REUNION**

In the year X791, Sting Eucliffe was known as the infamous _White Dragon_ at the age of 19. He had no recollection of the person he loved, nor the unfulfilled promise he made in the past. He also had no more dreams or goals, whatsoever, as he already lived the perfect life most people dreamed of. The night he decided to run away from the party would be the night he would never forget—the night he met 'Blondie'.

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" Sting scowled as he sprinted down the dark street, away from the distant feminine voices calling out his name. As he momentarily stopped to catch his breath, he heard numerous gasps from the people surrounding him. "Shit." He cursed. He pulled the hood of his cloak over his face while dodging people down the stone stairs. As he pressed himself against the side of a building to hide in the shadows, he watched his army of obssessed fans screaming his name run right past him. The blonde man let out a huff of exasperation as he ran his hand through his hair. "_Where the hell is Rogue_?" He hissed.

As Sting slowly recovered his stamina, he severely began to regret becoming a host.

Being the undefeated champion of the Grand Magic Games for the past 6 years turned Sting into a famous celebrity. He was even formally invited to attend a grand reception in representation of Sabertooth. However, _declining_ the royal invitation was a huge turn-off; especially when you're regarded as one of the strongest mages in Fiore.

Unfortunately, one of the main entertainers happened to be sick, so the servants kneeled on the ground begging for his help. Of course—his pride wouldn't allow it—but he was somehow turned into a host at the very last minute. Not liking his situation, he felt discriminating stares piercing him from the other hosts. Contrary to what he was speculating, they were looking at him as if he was on the cover of _Sorcerer Magazine_. His facial look was considered handsome to men and women alike. He was taller than the average person and his build from training showed through even with the suit covering most of his skin.

Standing in the middle of the banquet hall, women began to gather around him but kept a safe distance away as they continued to stare at him. They began to whisper between each other and started rating him and daring each other to try to approach him. A few ladies decided to attack when they finally mustered enough courage.

"... Good evening!"

"Get lost." He said darkly.

"Kyaaa~ He's so cruel!"

"So hot!"

"_Be still my beating heart..._!"

The predatory eyes of the lecherous women around him were starting to annoy him. To him, they were all the same: aiming for his good looks and wealth. Being in a relationship was just a chance to score some fame. 'She's the White Dragon's girl!' Those were the only reasons why they were after him. Some women even tried getting into his _pants _once_._ He was sick of it. It usually took one glare from Rogue to send all the females huddling into a corner.

"So... How would you like to become my host, White-Dragon-_kun_?"

"No." Sting instantly refused.

"Screw her, be mine instead!"

"Hands off, he's mine!"

"I won't let you have him!"

_God. Why did I agree to do this?_

As the women were fighting over which one he would take, he slowly moved backwards as they began to sound a lot like seagulls screaming, 'MINE!' at each other. When he felt the predatory glares fade away, he put on his cloak and left the building.

"Hey! He's running away!" One of the girls screamed.

"AFTER HIM!" They screeched.

.

.

.

And now he was hiding for dear life. Sure, he could easily fend them off with magic, but he would never hear the end of it from his guild. Either way, he was still going to get punished for leaving the reception. "Shit, Minerva is going to kill me."

Sting cursed while waiting for Rogue to pick him up. Right as he was about to leave the alleyway, he heard the sound of a door opening behind him. A person exited from the back of the building, stumbling into the passage where he was hiding. Sting froze when he realized that it was a _girl_. She had blonde hair split into two pigtails, thick books carried in both hands, and deep brown orbs staring right back at him. Just when he opened his mouth to say something, nearby voices alerted him.

"_Didn't he come this way?_"

"_He has to be nearby. Keep searching!_"

Sting quickly slid behind the startled girl, causing her to drop the heavy books, and cupped his hand over her mouth. Her eyes widened and she tried to rip his hand off her face.

"Hey—! Let go of me—!"

"Shut up for a second!" He growled back.

After a few moments, the girl stopped resisting and stared at him with bewildered eyes. When the voices died away and there was finally nothing but the sounds of their breathing, Sting removed his hand from her mouth and swiftly forced her back against the wall. "_Listen._" He towered over her, "I'll give you anything you want. _Money_. _Fame_. Anything that it'll take for you to _shut _up!"

"What—"

"You want something off of me? My _piercing_? I'll give it to you, so just stay quiet and keep your mouth shut!"

"No, I—"

"Tch. What do you want? A kiss? I can give you a—"

_Smack!_

Sting was stupefied when she slapped him across the face. It took him several of seconds to realize what happened by the time he rubbed his jaw. He was quite surprised from her reaction and how she completely caught him off guard. The girl was glaring at him angrily as she cautiously picked up her fallen books.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"Huh?" Sting was at a loss for words after hearing her speak for the first time, as those were the first words he actually heard from her. _She has a nice voice_, he unconsciously thought.

Feeling him being tense, the girl let out a tired sigh. No matter how you look at it, suddenly grabbing someone like her at a dark alleyway in the middle of the night was incredibly suspicious. But since she sensed no harmful intentions, she let it go. Looking him up and down, she had to admit that he was quite the looker. "Who are you?"

"... You don't know who I am?"

"No, duh." She rolled her eyes as if it was the most obvious thing. "Well, am I supposed to? I thought you were going to rape me back there! On top of that - _we just met_ \- so how in the world am I supposed to know who you are?"

"Err... Uh, no." He was taken aback. He wasn't expecting that at all. "It's just that most people would be surprised to see me. I thought you were going to scream or something and give me away."

"Ah, so you are _hiding _from someone. Well you do seem like a shady guy."

He scowled at her, "What's that supposed to mean—"

"—But you don't seem like a bad person." She smiled.

Sting stared at her with a dumbfounded expression. _Who was she?_ She had a familiar scent and was insanely _pretty_ for a bookworm. At first he thought she was going to pretend to act all feminine and get on good terms with him, then later reveal her true colors and turn out to be some sort of stuck up bitch.

Like every other female.

But she was warm. She was unaffected by him. She didn't treat him like everyone else. She was straightforward and sincere. She was _different_. He wanted to know more about her.

"Hey," He asked, "What's your name—"

_Drip. _

A raindrop fell from the sky and landed on her face.

"Eh?"

Several more _drips_ followed after another as dark clouds clouded the night sky. The rain picked up speed and started pouring heavily. Soon, they were both getting drenched by the rain.

"Ah! My books!" She began to panic. "They're going to get ruined!" She desperately hugged the leather-bound books to her stomach in an attempt to keep them as dry as possible. The cold wet rain pricked along her back, until she felt something warm and soft being placed around her shoulders.

"Here, take it." Sting said as he handed over his cloak, "It's not like I want you to get all wet or anything. I'll just give you this before I go."

He no longer needed the cloak to hide his identity thanks to the heavy rain, so he decided to give it to her in the meantime. Watching her protect her books like that was pitiful sight, so he quickly draped it around her shoulders before she could react.

"Take it as thanks for not saying anything back there." He smirked at her puzzled reaction before leaving the passageway. "See ya later, Blondie!"

Sting took a second to glimpse back at her, not knowing what this strange feeling inside of him was. The fact that someone didn't know who he was baffled him. Why did she feel so different from the girls madly obsessed with him? Something about her made him feel _warm_ inside, but he still didn't trust anyone.

He left the passage, getting soaked by the rain. On his way back to the guild, his thoughts were occupied by that mysterious girl. He hit himself for not being able to catch her name. He didn't know why, but he felt strangely attached to her. He had this strange feeing that he actually knew her from somewhere before. _Who was that girl_? He wondered to himself.

.

.

.

"_See ya later, Blondie!"_

Lucy was left standing alone, sheltered from the rain, watching his retreating back get smaller in the distance. She would have shivered in the cold, but the cloak's velvet interior kept her warm. _Blondie_... The familar nickname almost made her drop her newly bought books. A pensive sadness welled up from inside of her as an image of a certain boy came to mind.

"Where are you now?" She asked the rain.


	12. A Flower Blooms

**A/N: **HELLO, IT'S ME. So, I'll be posting more chapters in the summer. I'm too busy with life and school.

Sorry. Not sorry.

ONE MORE THING: The setting in the beginning takes place **BEFORE** the time-skip.

* * *

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima does.

* * *

**LIGHT CASTS A SHADOW**

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**Chapter 12: A FLOWER BLOOMS**

The 12 year-old Twin Dragons of Sabertooth were walking up ahead, surrounded by the village's children. Rogue tried to ignore their dazzling gazes as Sting was boasting about the success of their most recent mission.

"Sting-kun is the best," Lector announced on their way back home to the guild.

Yukino hummed absently as she flipped a page of the book she was reading. A moment later, her head snapped up when her book was yanked away and dropped into a shallow puddle of water.

"Lector!—" Yukino shouted in an uncharacteristic flash of anger.

Lector jumped back, looking evidently nervous, but when Yukino only clenched her fists and picked up the drenched book from the ground, he had a smug look on his face very similar to a certain dragonslayer.

"Serves you right, always reading those ridiculous books," Lector retorted. "Sting-kun was talking: You should pay attention."

Yukino gaped at the red exceed in absolute disbelief, "_What_?"

"You know, Frosch," Lector was saying. "Minerva-san gave Yukino a nickname. Now the entire guild calls her the _Useless Flower_, 'cause she's so delicate that she can't do anything by herself!" He was laughing tears. "She should really try being like Sting-kun!"

The frog-cosplaying exceed giggled airily, "Fro thinks so too!"

Yukino made a face when Frosch agreed with the red cat, but she inwardly knew that was just a part of the innocent exceed's nature.

She didn't want to be like Sting, the boy she once looked up to. Sure, a few days in joining the guild and Sting was already very popular, but what was so great about his arrogant and obnoxious attitude? Over the past few weeks, he laughed at the weak and made fun of others, and his _friends_ only seemed to influence his idiotic behavior. However, it was her fault he turned out like this, so it was her responsibility to watch over and protect him.

Of course, this also brought along the trait of not having many friends, or any if she was being honest - with an exception to Rogue and Frosch. She only had a few people she could partner up for missions, but most people tended to stay away from her because Yukino was notorious for having almost zero experience in combat.

Sting and Rogue have already become S-Class wizards and teamed up to go on dangerously terrifying missions, but she would ony get in the way if she wanted to tag along. So Yukino would choose to do simple quests instead, like finding the missing neighborhood cat. In Sabertooth, the strong ruled over the weak—and so far, Yukino was at the bottom of the food-chain.

Yukino narrowed her eyes, "Lector, what exactly is your point here?"

Lector struggled at first, but when he saw Sting and Rogue out of hearing range, he drew himself up and glared at the 11 year-old girl with resentment burning in his eyes, "You're an embarrassment, you know? Everyone in the guild says so."

Yukino rolled her eyes and looked away, ignoring the unexpected ache twisting in her gut, "Is that all?"

Frosch frowned at the near-maniacal glint in Lector's eyes as the red exceed relentlessly mowed down Yukino. "Why can't you just leave Sting-kun alone?!" He burst, his voice shaking with frustration. "You're always hanging around him and nagging at every single thing he does. You look so pathetic; Rogue only hangs out with you 'cause he feels _sorry_ for you! God, everybody in the guild laughs at you and Master hasn't kicked you out yet since you make everyone else look good! You're just an _embarrassment_. I bet you're ruining Sting-kun's reputation on purpose!"

Yukino said nothing as Lector abruptly sprouted wings and flew over to join Sting and the others without another backwards glance.

She heaved a sigh as she examined her wet book. Libra should be able to help when they get back home.

When Frosch began to tear up, her mind slipped back to Lector's cutting words.

So she was an embarrassment, huh?

She took a deep breath and shook it off. She lifted Frosch up and cradled the tiny exceed in her arms. Lector was her friend, she decided, and he was merely giving her his honest opinion. Yukino could understand his concern for Sting and forgive the red cat's outbursts.

The thought, however, didn't erase the hollow pang she felt in her chest.

.

|Time Skip|

«7 years later»

.

"What's wrong, _Useless-Flower_-chan? Practicing your jumping skills?"

Yukino ignored the exceed's jeers and the hoots of laughter that followed as she sprang upwards again, fingers just brushing the keys dangling in one of the forked branches of the tree in front of her.

She blew out a frustrated breath. She should have been more careful—taking a shower and leaving her keys on her dresser was just plain stupid. O_f course_ Lector would sneak into her room and fly her keys up the tree.

The tree wasn't even that high of reach, and the keys were just within her range, but it all seemed to torment her even more by daring her to keep trying over and over again. Half of the other guild members in the vicinity would definitely be able to reach it, but they were all Lector's _friends_. They usually enjoyed watching Lector make Yukino's guild-life miserable.

"Why are you miscreants loitering?"

A sudden hush fell over the plaza. Yukino didn't waste time turning around and rather paid it no mind. She would rather dive off a cliff than 'loiter' around with the exceed's friends, all of them bullies for laughing their heads off instead of helping her.

"It's Titania!" One of them gasped.

"The Queen of the Fairies..."

"We were just leaving, Fairy-san." Lector muttered reluctantly, and Yukino heard the sound of hastened footsteps fleeing away.

Yukino didn't care anymore, bending her knees and jumping up once again. This time, she wasn't able to touch the keys and almost stumbled on her landing, panting heavily from exhaustion.

Before she could consider the consequences of clambering up the tree, a _freaking_ sword came flying over her head, splitting the small branch from the tree with pinpoint accuracy and dislodging the keys from the limb.

Yukino let out a shriek of pure terror and thrust herself forward, instinctively catching the celestial gate keys before they could collide with the ground. She stared back at the sword lodged in the tree — _which could have ended her life _— and then back at her keys. Had that person who drove away Lector and his gang helped her out?

"Are you alright?"

Yukino quickly whirled around to look at the woman clad with armor and scarlet red hair standing right beside her. _She's really pretty._ Yukino thought to herself, but that didn't change the fact that she almost impaled a sword right through her head. But there were no harmful intentions and Yukino was genuinely grateful.

"Thank you very much." She gave a polite bow.

Erza grunted acknowledgingly, her gaze falling briefly on the celestial gate keys in Yukino's hands. One eyebrow rose but the knight-mage said nothing and turned away, walking across the plaza, not once looking back.

Yukino tilted her head in confusion and stared down at her keys. Libra's, Pisce's and Ophiuchus's keys stared back at her. They were the precious friends she was entrusted with that helped her on her missions. The two golden gate keys gleamed a welcoming and friendly aura, but the black key continued to emanate a feeling that she shouldn't pamper around with. She wasn't exactly on good terms with Ophiuchus the Snake Charmer.

Yet.

Hmm. Maybe she should work on that.

Carefully inspecting her gate keys and finding nothing wrong, Yukino decided to head back to the guild hall. She'd need to be a lot more careful with where she placed her prized possessions from now on.

.

.

.

Later that day when Yukino returned to the guild hall, she found Erza lingering around the entrance of the building, glaring defiantly at anyone passing by. The townspeople were frightened away when she stared at them. _What is she doing here?_ Yukino gaped. Only extended relations outside of the guild or members themselves could enter the building, so she must have been denied access.

But if she continued to stay here, she could get into some seriously deep trouble. Hell would inevitably break loose if someone like Orga or Minerva came outside to find _her_ crowding the entrance. Pursing her lips, Yukino decided to confront the re-equip mage. "Um, Ms. Fairy-sama," That was the name Lector called her right? "Wh- What are you doing here?"

"Hn." Erza glanced at her with crossed arms, "I'm looking for someone."

That was vague. Yukino shook her head in perplexity, "If you stay around here you might get into trouble!"

"I can handle myself."

Yukino wanted to cringe. This lady was extremely stubborn, but she helped her out and Yukino didn't want her to get hurt. "Then, um, would you like to hang out? Er, I mean you helped me out and all and I would like to repay you!" This way she would be able to show her gratitude while dodging a bullet.

A thick silence ensued, but Yukino bit back an apology. She didn't regret asking.

Erza blinked owlishly at her, as if trying to take in what she said. "_Hang out?_" She repeated as if it was in a foreign language, "As in a friend asking another friend to spend time together to engage in girl-to-girl conversations and partake in a fun sort of activity?" Her eyes began sparkling as she passionately reached out to grab Yukino's hands, "I've always dreamed of hanging out with someone! Yes — We shall hang out!"

"Uh," Yukino was thoroughly overwhelmed by Erza's sudden urge to 'hang out' with her. She didn't know how to react, but it was a good feeling that blossomed in her chest and made her feel an elated sort of giddiness inside.

It would be nice to spend a bit of time with her savior, getting to know her a lot better, maybe even grabbing a bite to eat or- or-

Wait. What exactly does one do when hanging out with someone?

She didn't have the slightest clue.

"Where should we—"

"I will have lunch with you in two hours," Erza cut her off, already having calmed down her nerves. "At the cake shop a few blocks from here."

Yukino gaped at her for a several seconds, flabbergasted, before perking up with a serene smile on her face. Erza was a strange person, but the knight-mage clearly didn't mind spending time with someone like her. That much made Yukino the happiest ever since she joined the depressing guild.

.

.

.

Erza sat before her with a glorious strawberry shortcake, decked with chocolate-covered strawberries, putting Yukino's slice of chocolate cake to shame. She was also wearing a showy maid dress that she swore one of the waitresses were wearing earlier. Yukino blushed slightly when she realized how _revealing_ it was. In her opinion, Erza was being way too bold with her cleavage.

"Yukino, you're staring."

Yukino jumped in her seat, zoning back into reality and finding an impassive shade of brown eyes observing her.

She blushed, waving her hand dismissively, "Ah, sorry!"

Erza hummed in acknowledgement. "That exceed from before, why was he picking on you?"

Yukino absently took a sip from her tea, not saying anything. She took a glance at Erza. She looked annoyed.

"You are a celestial spirit mage, are you not? They are very rare and use a special type of magic to form bonds of trust with their spirits." Erza said bluntly.

"Er, yes," Yukino blinked in surprise and nodded slowly, not seeing where this was going. It struck her as odd as to how Erza figured out that she was a celestial spirit mage. It was true that they weren't particularly common and there were only a few in the world, but how on Earthland did she know that?

Erza stared at her as if she thought Yukino was being purposely dense.

"You have three gate keys," The knight-mage finally pointed out after a long awkward silence, "Of the _Zodiac_."

Ah. So that was how she-

Yukino coughed, feeling a hint of crimson embarrassment flushing onto her face as she shuffled around her feet. Zodiac gate keys were the strongest of keys, but they did take a drastic toll on her magic supply. At one point, her ability to use magic would have been threatened if Sting didn't rush back with the Yggdrassil pills.

"So why not put him in his place?" The red-head demanded.

"L- Lector's a friend of mine." Yukino said, her gaze downcast. "I am not going to do anything horrible to him."

She didn't even need to look up to see the look of skepticism in Erza's face. Erza scoffed, clearly not impressed by her way of thinking, and instead shoved a fork full-of-strawberry shortcake into her mouth.

They fell into a companionable silence for the next few minutes, each eating their own respective cakes. Yukino swallowed hard and drew up her courage to bring up another conversation, and perhaps lighter topic.

"So why were you at the guild earlier?" Yukino tentatively started, "I mean, I've been in Sabertooth for a couple of years now and I might be able to help you find whoever you're looking for if you describe what the person looks like."

"Hn," Erza smiled in appreciation, "She's a friend of mine, but I doubt you would know what she looks like. She's not in your guild, but that building was the only place I haven't checked yet in this town. If I wasn't able to get in, then she probably wouldn't have been able to enter either."

"She must be really important to you." Yukino stabbed the chocolate cake with her fork.

"Oh, yes." She was saying murderously, "Once I find her, I'm going to_ kill_ her."

Yukino almost yelped out loud in her seat, startled by the unexpectedly livid hiss of sound in her words, but she watched Erza's cold expression begin to soften. Her fists were shaking under the table and her voice became hoarse. "She left the guild one day, without any explanation where or why she was going. When we visited her home, we found that her apartment was completely empty. All that was left in the room was a neat little note sitting on her desk, '_I am going on a journey to find the only remaining person left in my family. I don't know when I am coming back, so please don't search for me. Thank you for everything and I'm sorry._'"

Yukino could tell Erza must have read that note over and over again many times to herself, judging by the way she remembered its contents. She opened her mouth, finding that she had nothing to say, and closed it again.

"That Lucy. What a dumb girl," Erza laughed bitterly with a look of hurt in her eyes, "How could she not realize after all this time that _we're_ also a part of her family. Telling us not to go searching for her was beyond ridiculous. We would have helped her look, even if it meant tearing apart towns, if she just mentioned everything to us."

Yukino had frozen with her cake halfway to her mouth. Shakily, she lowered it back onto the plate. "'Lucy'?"

Erza nodded slowly with a faint gleam of hope. "Yes. Do you know of her?"

_Lucy Heartfilia? She's alive?_

With effort, Yukino pushed her shock aside and thought.

In a way, it made perfect sense. Erza Scarlet was a mage of Fairy Tail, and now that she thought about it, she was one of the guild's key members who went missing seven years ago. If Erza was back, then that would mean Lucy Heartfilia was back too. Lucy never died, but merely disappeared, and that was why no one was able to find her. So that would mean... She was alive. _She was never dead. Lucy was alive. She was-_

"Lucy's alive." A drop of liquid splashed onto her cake, staining the chocolate. Yukino hastily rubbed her arm over her eyes. What was she doing? She hadn't cried in years. A wobbly smile formed on her face, "Thank God... She's really alive?"

"Yes," Erza stared at Yukino, her disbelief mixed with several emotions.

Yukino and Erza spent half of the day in the cake shop talking about what they both had in common: Lucy. Yukino told her about the visions she had, but she left out the parts about Sting and the dragon lacrima. Erza listened intently, absorbing all the information like a sponge. In the end, however, they weren't any closer into finding out Lucy's whereabouts.

"Thank you very much," Yukino let out a watery laugh. "For 'hanging out' with me today. This was the most fun I had in years. I'll also do my best to keep an eye out for Lucy. I owe her a lot and she is a very important person to me. Thank you, Ms. Fairy-sama."

"Erza."

She blinked, "Eh?"

Erza was already savoring her cake, delicately picking the strawberries off one by one. "I will be sure to contact you once we drag Lucy back home, and you'll be able to have your 'talk' with her afterwards. Until then, it was a pleasure hanging out with you Yukino."

"Thank you for everything," Yukino smiled back and added rather shyly, "Erza."

For a day that started out so miserably, it had miraculously turned out to become one of the best days of her life.

.

.

.

Once they were outside, Yukino had already forgotten that they were walking back to her guild. She never actually spent time indulging herself before, but going home was...

Sometimes, it never really felt like home anymore.

"You seem nervous." Erza said observantly. "Are you worried about that exceed?"

Yukino ducked her head and avoided her gaze, "It's nothing. I'm sorry you had to see me like that earlier, but Lector and the others have always been a bit mean to me. I'm already used to it."

Erza frowned and didn't look at all delighted with Yukino's evaluation of her guild mates, but she would let this go for now.

By the time they reached her guild, Yukino was happily describing a boutique that she always passed by on her way to the Crocus Library.

"I've never really gone there before but everyone says that their designs are really good, so maybe we should go their next time to try some stuff on?" Yukino said hopefully, feeling genuinely excited.

Erza nodded vigorously, "Hm. Hm. This would be a good chance to get the latest haute couture for my wardrobe."

Yukino's smile broadened. "After we're done, maybe we could visit the bakery on the other side of the town! The owner of the store was one of the guild's clients that was missing her pet and I happened to take her request a few years ago to find her lost kitten. Fortunately, she gave me a ton coupons to try her cakes for free, but I never got the chance to try them."

"Yukino, who is that?"

Yukino froze, and then spun around to find Frosch pointing up at Erza. She smiled and crouched down to greet the adorable little exceed, "Ah, Frosch! This is Erza Scarlet, um, a- a friend of mine!"

Yukino felt a warm sort of happiness swell inside her chest when the knight-mage didn't object her.

Frosch gaped, staring open-mouthed at Erza, "You're friends with Yukino? Hooray! Everyone will be relieved! We thought no one would want to become friends with the _Useless-Flower_!"

Any joy Yukino had felt evaporated within the blink of an eye. Her face burned red with humiliation as she averted her gaze towards the ground. She made a horrible decision to look up when she caught sight of the older girl's reaction.

Erza's eyes were darting all over her, and for the longest second, the disbelief written on her face was visibly distinct.

All of this seemed to make Yukino feel even worse.

Frosch obliviously continued to cheer her on, "Yay! Yukino finally has a friend! Fro is so glad—"

"I do not hang out with useless people." Erza cut the exceed off with a solemn tone in her voice.

Frosch's entire body nearly drooped to the floor with disappointment and Yukino had to steel herself to prevent herself from recoiling. It was ridiculously insane how much Erza's words hurt compared to Frosch's innocent views of her.

"Aww," Frosch frowned, "Well, there's always next time—"

The tiny exceed was abruptly cut off again when Erza sharply turned to adress the celestial spirit mage, "Yukino Aguria, I will meet you at the bakery tomorrow at the same time as earlier. Do not forget to bring the coupons."

Yukino stood there speechless, her mind having been shut down with failure to say goodbye, as she watched Erza already walking away with her back completely turned.

"Fro thinks you made a friend!" The exceed said excitedly, "Rogue will be happy!"

Yukino didn't hear the cat's words as her eyes continued to follow the Fairy Tail mage out of sight.

After what she did to Sting, her relationship with the white dragon slayer grew distant and she could only watch over him from a distance. At the time, Yukino wouldn't have been able to forgive herself if Rogue wasn't by her side.

She scorned herself for being weak, she couldn't handle the burden by herself and she would have caved in from all the pressure. She just wanted to crawl in a hole and forget about the world, but Rogue was there for her to trust completely and unconditionally. He offered her support, which was more than anything she could ever ask for. He didn't judge her, no matter how stupidly she acted, and he still continued to accept all of her flaws. Her carefully constructed dam burst. The most important thing of all was that he reacted just like any true friend would. He let her cry.

If another true friend came to her in the form of a terrifying, yet caringly passionate Fairy Tail mage... then Yukino would continue to fight. The 'Useless Flower' would bloom into a force to be reckoned with. She would face her fears and finally open the gate to Ophiuchus. Yukino had been eternally awakened with a powerful new resolve.

_Find Lucy._

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**A/N: **Don't get me wrong — I personally love Frosch — he just has an innocent and airheaded personality. I just sort of used it to my advantage and took his cluelessness to a whole new level. Also, Lector can be overprotective of Sting sometimes, so I think it fit quite well.

In this arc, we'll finally see some more Lucy action. It's time to kick some Dragonslayer butt!

Reminder that I'll be posting more chapters in the summer. Hopefully. I just need a lot of motivation. Thank you guys for all the support! Well, be seeing you.

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	13. A Bad Time

**A/N:** Howdy! Sorry for the lack of updates, but I had so many exams and projects for the past few months... and then Undertale happened. I just wanted to lay on the ground and feel like garbage. Guess who's Undertale trash now?

ME!

I'm sorry. I was absorbed by its fandom. The community is too strong. Chara almost took my soul. I barely came back alive, and you guys are my priority. I'll stop plaguing you guys with my rants on Undertale, I promise. Again, I'm sorry. I should get dunked on. Okay, I'll stop. After this chapter. Teehee. Let's feel like garbage together!

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**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own Undertale, Toby Fox does.

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**LIGHT CASTS A SHADOW**

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**Chapter 13: A BAD TIME**

Sometimes Lucy wondered if she was brought to this world as a form of twisted amusement. Did otherworldly beings huddle around a screen and find pleasure in watching a stumbling idiot tumble her way through life from one embarrassing situation to the next? Absolutely. On the bright side, things could have gone worse.

As of right now, Lucy was currently hiding in the closet of a stranger's home. She had a lot of time to think about the events that had to occur in order for her to possibly end up here.

After waking up from the seven year time-skip, she found that she would never regain the time that she lost. Her father, the only remaining person in her family, had died waiting for her return. For once in her life, she felt utterly alone. Her thoughts then drifted towards Sting who had grown while she remained frozen in time. Worry and guilt washed over her heart at the thought of the little boy being alone after all these years. Did he feel hurt when she was gone? Alone? Forgotten?

She needed to know he was okay.

Long story short, she set off on a journey to find him. However, setting off on a journey meant that she would have to take a minor absence from the guild. Since quests at the guild were her only source of income, she made less money. Unfortunately, traveling expenses ate away most of her savings, barely leaving her with enough money to scrape for basic things such as food. Which is why she decided to crash this party.

Lucy never planned on becoming a party crasher, but when she was heading back late from researching the current timeline at the library, her nose caught a whiff of something incredibly delicious and her ears were drawn to the rhythm of upbeat music. She just wouldn't able to stomach another night of Virgo's godawful cooking. Loke had managed to ease her out of her conscience to slip into the party, grab some food and drinks if there were any, then escape into the night.

To be honest with herself, this wasn't the first time they had done this. With a gentle nudge from Loke, this sort of became a frequent part of her lifestyle with all the searching for Sting and whatnot. There was hardly ever any bouncers from keeping strangers out and most of the party goers didn't even bat an eye whenever he would casually escort her into the building. Just pretend that you're invited and everyone assumes that you're allowed to be there. Easy.

So Lucy placed her hand on Loke's arm, walked up to the front door, and walked in like they belonged before she realized the eminent danger.

No, this was not your average lackluster party hosted by some young drunk mage. Nope. The moment they walked through that door, she noticed that they had stepped inside a mansion packed with people on all sides. A lot of them were dancing, some were eating, and the rest were mingling. It was a normal classy party... except they all carried around the same colorful guild mark.

She knew she would probably stand out like a strawberry in a bowl of peas without the distinguished guild insignia, but she saw a few other people without the mark, so she decided to risk it. She put on her best smile, and they made way to the bar for something to eat. The staff there was surprised at how polite she was being, but were nevertheless very welcoming to her presence. The bar was decked like a miniature buffet stacked with gourmet dishes and Lucy ate to her heart's content while Loke drove away unwanted guests who wanted to _socialize_.

"My apologies, but I'm afraid this young maiden is taken."

"In case you were lost, the punch bowl is in that direction."

"Yeah, I know she's cute. Touch her and I'll end you."

It was almost laughable at how fast they caught attention, but luckily no one paid it any mind. She could only shake her head at the occasional flirt here and there. After stuffing herself with the five-star meal, she was feeling pretty satisfied. Lucy turned away from the bar — resolved on leaving — until one of her favorites songs began to play.

Lucy wavered, and internally debated with herself as she went over her mental check list. -Was Loke in a safe distance? _Check._ -Did she happen to blend in with a huge crowd of people? _Check. _-Would doing this cause very little attention to herself? _Check!_ Three checks in a row and she decided that it wouldn't hurt just to stay for a couple more minutes.

One song and a couple more minutes easily turned into dancing for about an hour and a half. Much like the staff at the food bar, the people on the dance floor were just as welcoming. Loke had eventually stopped watching and was leisurely sipping away a few drinks with some women. Lucy literally danced until she dropped — her calves were aching. Excusing herself, she headed towards a quieter area of the party for some breathing space. She should probably leave soon. Someone was bound to notice that she wasn't invited.

"S'up Blondie."

Lucy blanched at the sound of the voice. She turned to see that _guy _from before — the one who grabbed her outside of the library in the middle of the night — leaning up against the wall, with his hands inside his pockets. "Hello," she smiled, a little forced.

"I didn't think we'd be seeing each other again so soon." He playfully smirked, "How'd my cloak end up treating you?"

She blinked. _Oh, right!_ The incident totally slipped from her mind. It was a really kind gesture for him to offer his cloak to her in the pouring rain, so she guessed he couldn't be all _that_ bad. She felt bad for hitting him now. "I'm so sorry about earlier! Thanks for the cloak, but I left it back at my apartment. I can give it back to you later."

"Nah, you can keep it. I was just wondering about something." He gauged her reaction, an expression of bored curiosity on his face, "You obviously didn't come here to see me. So then, how do you know Rogue?"

Lucy didn't know who the heck Rogue was, but she wildly guessed that they might have been the host of the party. Her mind mentally blanked as she quickly went over her check list: -Was Loke in a safe distance? _Nope._ -Did she happen to blend in with a huge crowd of people? _Nooooooo _-Would doing this cause very little attention to herself? _NO!_

Yup, she was screwed. She was too embarrassed to admit that she was a party crasher who had wandered in from the street, so she quickly said something sensible any rational person would say—like, "I'm dating the brother."

He just stared at her. _Oh God, _Lucy nervously paled, _I totally messed that up didn't I? What if this Rogue person doesn't even have a brother? Why didn't I just say we were friends or something?! _

She waited for him to call her out, but he smiled back instead, "Huh. I didn't know his twin bro was dating anyone."

Lucy visually relaxed a bit and said, "Yeah. We're, uh, we're taking it slow and steady for now."

"Hmm. Are you just using him for his money or something?"

"What?! No way! I would never do that!" Lucy was apalled by the idea. "What kind of person do you take me for? I wouldn't even think of taking advantage of someone's kindness! He's really... kind... and um, thoughtful of others." She should really stop BS'ing things, "I'm really glad to be with someone like him."

"Great. Cuz he's a fantastic guy. So, when'd you guys start dating?"

"Oh, you know..." She was digging herself a huge grave. "Recently."

His grin grew wider, "How recently?"

She wished he would just leave her alone already, "Um, you know what, I don't have to answer that. That's kind of a personal question," Lucy took a few steps back, ready to make a break towards the exit, "It's getting late and I really should get going—" She bumped into something with the back of her leg. She twirled around to find an adorable little cat in a pink frog suit on the ground staring back up at her.

A dark haired mage came fussing over the fallen exceed. "Frosch, you need to be careful. Say sorry to our guest," He gestured towards her, helping Frosch back up. When he saw Lucy, he began eyeing her strangely. "I have to apologize again, but I do not recognize you from our guild."

"Fro thinks so too!"

Lucy didn't say anything — at least she didn't think she could. She had gone way past the point of no return to say something stupid, especially under his scrutinizing gaze. Rogue waited patiently for her answer, his expression still wary and distrusting.

He asked, "Who are you?"

Lucy felt an arm slide behind her waist and the cocky arrogant bastard had suddenly pulled her by his side. She saw him wink, a hint of dry amusement in his tone. "Rogue, this is my girlfriend."

...

Wait—What? _What?_

"Huh?" Frosch brought a paw up to his chin, tilting his head in confusion. Rogue just looked at him skeptically, "You're dating someone?"

"Yup," He smirked hard, trying not to laugh. He pulled Lucy closer to him, "Isn't that right, _Babe_?"

Lucy ignored him. She was too busy being completely mortified. She could barely hear the music over the sound of her thunderous heartbeat. "...t-then you... you must be Rogue?" It was more of a statement of disbelief than a question.

"Yes, I am," He frowned at her. "If you two are as close as you say you are, then I hope you take good care of him." Rogue paused and glared his brother, who still had his arm draped around her. "It looked like we were interrupting something. We should go, Frosch."

"Fro thinks so too!"

The second they left, he immediately began cracking up beside her, "Man, did I forget to mention that I was the brother? I didn't know I had a thing for blonde bookworms." He wiped away a tear, "Y'know, ya could at least take me on a date first."

Lucy had never felt so humiliated in her entire life. She tore away from his slackened grip and ran. When she veered past the corner, away from his line of sight, she dove into the nearest opening — the closet. She realized she should have just made a beeline for the front door, but right now she just wanted to crawl into a hole and forget about the world.

She placed a shaky hand on her heart to try to calm herself. Here she was, hiding in a closet of a stranger's house. Her face was still burning red. God, was she an idiot. That jerk enjoyed every single embarrassing moment of it. The idea of dating someone like _him_ disgusted her. She spent who knows how much time wasting away in the depths of the closet, when she heard a subtle knocking on the door.

_Knock. Knock._

"Leave me alone to die." Lucy groaned.

The door slid open and Loke's face poked in. One look at his mistress said it all. He heaved a tired sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose before bringing her back up to her feet. He tsk'ed, "Let's go home."

Lucy meekly nodded her head and they proceeded to head out of the party. When they were walking out the front door, she took one last glimpse at the party behind her. The arrogant jerk was staring at her from across the room with an amused smile on his face. Lucy huffed in anger and swiveled her head, catching his wink from the corner of her eye.

.

.

.

Loke was puzzled by her sudden stomping and angry pout as they were leaving the party. He had never seen Lucy quite worked up like this before. Not even when she spent days in different libraries looking for clues for Sting's whereabouts. It was a nice change. "Let's never do this again. _Ever._" He heard her mutter.

Well, it was fun while it lasted. Sometimes Lucy would neglect eating entirely and her celestial spirits could feel her radiating with anxiety. Loke got her into crashing parties as a way to take breaks from her long periods of searching. It worked as an outlet for relieving stress and even helped monitor her basic needs.

"Okay." He readily complied. There'd be plenty of opportunities later.

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**A/N: **Like the title says, Lucy has a bad time. You could say that searching for Sting... fills her with determination. [_Megalovania intensifies._]

#SorryNotSorry

Lucy is bound to find him eventually. You could say that he's literally right underneath her nose! :D

Reviews help motivate me to write more chapters and update faster. Like A LOT! These past few months were just filled exams and tests. I can finally catch a break now that it's SUMMER! I write just for you guys and you make me _All Fired Up_! Kindly leave a review~

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	14. Snakey the Snake

**A/N:** Hmm... That expression. Let's just get to the point.

Brain Teaser: I was told this chapter can get confusing. The point of views alternate between the present and past. It is noticeable by the variations of the name Ophiuchus and Snakey. So when you see the name, 'Snakey', think of the present. When you read the name 'Ophiuchus', think of past.

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**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima does.

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**LIGHT CASTS A SHADOW**

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**Chapter 14: SNAKEY THE SNAKE**

Yukino took out the golden gate key with a black snake coiling around it. She took a deep breath. She wasn't _alone_. Her friends were here with her this time. She could do this. Yukino announced with feigned confidence as she pointed the key up to the sky, "Open—The 13th Gate! Gate of the Snake Charmer: Ophiuchus!"

When she came to a halt, everything went completely still. But there was something else present... a malevolent tension in the air. The sky turned dark and a deep pitched ding-dong noise hung in the air as it slowly reverbated throughout the area. _It_ was coming.

"Erza-sama, Rogue-sama, get ready." Yukino tightly gripped her keys.

"Hn." The knight mage re-equipped into her Heaven's Wheel Armor. Rogue nodded his head in a similar fashion.

Yukino's breathing became irregular and her trembles were getting worse. Rogue glanced at her in concern. Yukino was normally so composed, and yet the only time she had ever broken down in front of him was seven years ago. The calm passive mask she built was falling apart.

A portal appeared directly in front of them after a few seconds. Everyone readied their magic as a... purple garden snake(?) popped out from the vortex.

"Hi-Ya! I'm Snakey!" The cute little snake excitedly bounced up and down on the ground. "SNAKEY the SNAKE!" The adorable serpentine creature looked eagerly at the mages.

Snakey the Snake looked just like a purple garden snake, roughly around two feet in height. It wiggled its neck and curiously bobbed its crowned head at them. Everything about the tiny serpent was bursting with contagious ethusiasm. Erza just blinked in confusion.

This wasn't at all Rogue had expected. Erza looked down at the snake and

* * *

held out her hand to greet him, "Hello, my name is Yukino."

Ophiuchus looked at her curiously, before taking her hand with the end of his tail. "Gee, aren't you very polite?"

Yukino must have been easy to flatter because her face instantly turned red. How interesting. He hmm'd at her reaction, "You must have been the one to summon me correct?"

"Yes." She nodded.

"Well it's nice to meet you, Yukino!" He beamed brightly at her, flashing open the toothless gums of his mouth. "I hope that we'll become the best of friends!"

"Me too..." Yukino heaved a dreamy sigh and smiled. "I really hope we do."

"Don't worry, pal! It's just a feeling but," He winked, "I know we will

* * *

never let you harm Yukino ever again." Rogue growled.

Yukino hid behind him as his piercing red gaze poked at the cute snake. Snakey the Snake merely tilted his head in confusion. He inquisitively peered back at the dark haired dragonslayer. "Yukino, are these your friends?"

The celestial spirit mage immediately tensed, what little confidence she had gained immediately vanishing. She said nothing, not trusting her voice. Her gaze was downcast to the ground as she meekly nodded her head.

Snakey instantly perked up, "Ah, then you must be Rogue. No wonder you're so edgy!" Rogue's eye twitched as the snake's face warped into a sorrowful expression. "Golly, I would never think of harming another person, especially Yukino. In fact, we still haven't made our contract yet. How could you even accuse _me_ of harming my own bestie?"

For a brief second, Erza lowered her guard. Maybe she was blushing, because all of a sudden her cheeks felt warm and she was feeling suddenly silly. It was beyond ridiculous, even for her, that they were having a conversation with an itty-bitty snake. How could something so adorable do those things to Yukino? Her voice betrayed her as she unconsciously voiced out her thoughts, "He's so...

* * *

cute!" Yukino awed at his adorableness.

Ophiuchus laughed, "Aw shucks, you're going to make me blush!"

The duo spent the night filled with useless, yet lighthearted conversations before dropping into a comfortable silence. The serpent mused at its new toy. The pathetic celestial mage was so endearingly stupid and kind almost to a fault. People like her in this world were practically asking to be hurt.

It's been about four hundred years since Ophiuchus was last summoned. It was amusing how people desperately sought him out for answers. Every time, he'd challenge his brand new toy to some sort of impossible challenge and then watch in giddy amusement at their destruction. Some people were fun to break. Few broke in extravagant, yet satisfying ways. He was interested to see which kind Yukino would turn out to be.

"Yukino?" He called.

"Yes, Snakey?"

"We're friends right?"

"Of course we are!" Yukino shyly smiled. "Why wouldn't we be?"

"Heh, sorry for sounding sorta silly." He hissed the 's' sounds with his practiced snake tongue. It made Yukino laugh at least.

Yukino needed a sprinkle of reassurance every now and then to finally ask him of her desires. All she did for now was spend time with him and try to get to know him better. However, they only spent times like this when she was sure they were absolutely alone, just like he requested. Her kindness not only confused him, but made him curious. This girl was very interesting.

"Snakey, I need to talk to you about something." Yukino sat straight up, looking resolved.

_Ah, finally... _Ophiuchus gazed at her in excitement. _The moment of truth!_

"...I need your power to help heal my friend. I did something terrible to him—something I deeply regret. Before, I was terrified of using your key. I was scared because the Serpent can represent the vices and evils of this world. Deceit, Trickery, Corruption..." When her voice trailed off, he rolled his eyes.

Then she began to look at him in a brighter, uplifting emotion that he experienced countless times. One that made him feel sickened and unusual in the sense. It was _hope_. "But the Serpent can also represent _Healing_: Medicine, Restoration, and Recovery... I believe that you are good. I ask that you would please lend me your power to help fix my mistakes. I want to make things right again."

"Of course, Yukino, of course! I'll do anything to help a friend in need," Ophiuchus exclaimed, giving Yukino a pat on the head. "And you're completely right. I _am_ all those things."

"Wait..." She looked at him in shock. "What?"

_This is going to be so much fun!_

"But... before we start the contract, I'll have to perform a little test." His voice dropped the sugar and now dripped with venom, "I'm going to attack you. You're going to fight back. I must test your worthiness to be my contract-holder."

"Wh-What? We have to fight?!" Yukino jolted. Violence was never involved with discussing a pact, ever. "Snakey, I don't want to fight you," She backed away, instinctively grabbing hold of her keys.

"I know you don't, buddy," Ophiuchus said. He pouted, "But how am I ever supposed to test your power and will? Asking for my help comes with a lot responsibility, you know. I'm sure you were warned never to trust a snake."

"We dont have to fight!" She begged, "Please, don't do this. We... We're friends, aren't we?"

"Oh, Yukino. You silly girl... We're the best of friends!" Ophiuchus cackled in a high-pitched laughter. The celestial spirit mage flinched as his true colors were revealed. "Are you prepared to fight me like your life depends on it? Because _guessss_ what?" He smiled, revealing a sharp set of fangs, "It _ssssorta_ does."

Then he

* * *

_transformed_.

"Erza-sama, be careful!" Yukino warned, her face filled with horror. She was just a second too late.

Snakey the Snake was no longer an adorable purple garden snake. No. His face split open and he _crawled_ out of his small serpentine body, which was discarded like a wrapper. Snakey was now a midnight-black — humongous snake-like creature towering over Erza like a skyscraper. The upper part of his new body was covered in a series of massive dark-blue scales with razor sharp edges.

Snakey immediately dove down at the re-equip mage, his metal jaws sporting massive blade-like teeth with jagged edges. With instantaneous reaction time, Erza unsheathed countless swords to parry the deadly fangs. Rogue punched at his eyes with conjured shadows. Snakey's reptilian pupil-less eyes seethed with demonic rage as he retreated and burrowed deep into the ground.

The three mages felt huge tremors in the ground as the almost mechanical serpent carved through the earth. Rogue and Erza guarded the celestial spirit mage, intently watching the ground for signs of the snake resurfacing. Yukino raised a golden gate key to the sky and chanted, "Open—Gate of the Heavenly Scales: Libra!"

A charming belly dancer with a pair of scales in each hand appeared from a portal, awaiting Yukino's command. "Please change the gravity of the earth to bring Snakey back up to the surface!"

Libra silently complied and thrust her scales into the ground. The earth stopped quaking and Snakey was forced back up to the surface, directly underneath the Sabertooth mages. The ground shattered and his jaws mechanically snapped open as Yukino and Rogue began falling to their deaths.

Yukino yelped—another gate key unceremoniously raised to the sky, "Pisces! Help!"

A ding-dong noise resounded as the pair of black and white fishes spiraled into the side of the serpent, tackling him away from the falling mages. Rogue grabbed Yukino by her waist and recoiled off the broken pieces of earth to land safely back onto the ground.

When Yukino was out of harm's way, Rogue immediately headed back into the battle with shadowy fists. Erza darted back and forth between the coils of Snakey's immense body to boost her momentum. "Dance, my blades," She said as a myriad of swords rapidly spun around her, clashing against the Serpent's

* * *

fangs, lingering dangerously close to her neck. All blood was drained from Yukino's face as tears threatened to fall from her eyes. _Scary._ All of this was _frightening. _Judging from the wild gleam in his eye, Yukino could tell that the snake was savoring every moment of this.

"Wowza, you sure took quite a beating!" Ophiuchus winked. He reverted back to his original form, a cute little serpent coiled tightly around Yukino's torso, "Let me fix you up a bit, pal."

Ophiuchus drank in the sight of Yukino thrashing away in terror. If it wasn't for that damn Celestial King, he would have already ripped the poor girl to pieces. His gaze lingered on the black and blue marks on her skin. It wasn't often he used his healing magic. Yukino failed to struggle away from the approaching green light.

"Boop!" The tip of his tail gently made contact with her forehead. The bruises and deep scratches covering her body healed within seconds, "There, all better!"

Yukino grimaced. Her body stiffened, knowing better not to speak—not to retaliate from his grasp. He was impressed; this girl was learning fast!

"I like you, Yukino," Ophiuchus gazed deeply into her frightened orbs, "I'm not allowed to kill or permanently disfigure you; however, I can't say the same for the others. As long as you wield _my_ key, I'll be with you forever." He watched as Yukino shuddered. "I wonder what your guildies will call you now. The 'Useless Flower' thing obviously won't work anymore, huh? Then how about... 'The girl with the Demon'. I mean, yikes! Has a nice ring to it, don'tcha think?" He added a cute wink. Yukino didn't even react. _Good. Very good._

Ophiuchus seized her throat with his tail, forcing her to meet his gaze at eye level. The celestial mage scrabbled frantically as he restrained her easily. He needed to make sure she was paying attention; he had to get his message across.

"I have just one last for you to remember before I go. After all, you wouldn't want to disappoint me, would you? I need someone strong to be my master, so we'll be fighting like this every few nights to make you stronger... And if you _ever_ tell another living soul about any of this,

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I'LL KILL ALL YOUR FRIENDSSSS!"

Snakey let out a demonic shriek, causing everyone to cover their ears. He beat his tail against the ground, hoisting himself up into the sky. An insidious black energy guzzled inside his throat with an unsettling noise stirring in the background. The next moment it vanished.

Piercing black light. Everyone was suddenly flying through the air.

Yukino rubbed her head. The fall wasn't long, but it hurt so much. The sudden impact cleared her head enough for her to realize that she was blown away by the large-scale attack, along with everyone else. Rogue and Erza were laying scattered across the floor, and her celestial spirits were almost fading away completely. She got up to her knees and stared at everyone in horror.

"E-Everyone...!" Yukino rasped. "This is... n-no... it's just like before!" Her composure had crumbled. She was gasping heavily, her keys falling from her hands, completely forgetting about the looming threat behind her. The serpent was charging up another deadly attack in the gullet of his throat.

The others were making movements getting up. Erza and Rogue were still alive, but Yukino couldn't see past her terror. She was reliving the moments of the one-sided massacre against the snake. Everyone was going to die and it was all her fault. The panicked look in her eyes was certain that history was going to repeat itself. Her gaze desperately cast over her only friends, her eyes desperately begging for someone—anyone to help.

But nobody came.

Even with the combined efforts of Erza, Rogue, and her spirit companions, it still wasn't enough. If she just kept matters to herself and suffered alone, everyone wouldn't be in danger right now. Snakey focused the growing energy in his throat into the huge sphere expanding in his mouth.

"_You idiot!_" A sharp cry bellowed. "_Get out of the way!"_

A quick red blur dashed within her sight. A red cat flew towards her — wings outstretched — as Snakey released the blast. Yukino continued to stand frozen in place, panicking even as Lector was barreling towards her. Her eyes flickered towards his for a split second. The look in his eyes was determined.

.

.

.

The next few moments seemed to happen in slow motion. Yukino tumbled out of the blast radius as Libra motioned her scales to soften her impact. Everyone's eyes were on her and Lector. Erza was currently clashing against the snake. Rogue leapt back up to his feet and shouted something to them, but the sound of her pounding heartbeat drowned it all out.

Pisces were doing their best rebounding against Snakey the Snake to divert attention away from their mistress. Erza re-equipped into a sash covering her chest and a red hakama for pants. She virtually donned no armor as she completely abandoned defense and focused primarily on attacking. She slashed repeatedly at Snakey's hard scales with a pair of katanas to no avail.

"Yukino, snap out of it!" Rogue yelled, as he dodged another attack from the snake.

Yukino carried Lector within her arms... the exceed's left wing was completely vaporized by the blast. "Lector..." She was shaking her head, as if denying everything that had happened would suddenly make all the bad things disappear. "Wh-Why..."

"Gravity Change!" Libra's angry yell was heard in the background as she assisted the pair of fishes slamming against the demon snake. Erza slashed at the base of his head, earning another bloodthirsty roar.

"M-Make the contract," Lector's voice came out like a whisper. His throat burned like fire, but he tried again. "Make the contract, Yukino. I'll be fine!"

Yukino gave a wide-eyed stare, tears streaming down her cheeks. "You...!"

"We make the heavens roar, the earth boil, and the sea silent. You are not a useless flower—You are a Sabertooth wizard!" He shouted fiercely. He took a deep breath, "Right now I believe in you, so finish the pact!"

"I-I will." She swallowed. She would do this. For the sake of everyone who believed in her. For Rogue, who had hovered by her side since the very beginning. For Erza, who desperately longed for Lucy's return. For Lector, who risked himself to protect her.

For Sting.

"Haha... Just don't make me regret... saving your sorry butt..." Lector closed his eyes. She looked down at the crippled exceed in her arms. His remaining wing faded away as his magic dissipated. An unbridled emotion began stirring wildly in her chest. _Rage._

"He was protecting you, Yukino!" Rogue called, avoiding another attack. "Don't let his effort go to waste. You're not alone this time. We can do this!"

"...Ophiuchus." She said under her breath, setting Lector gently onto the ground. Her eyes were ablaze and shined with a newfound confidence. She stood up, no longer shaking, and pulled out the gate key with the black serpent coiling around it. Yukino pointed it towards the giant snake.

"You. Will. _Lend me. YOUR POWER!_"

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**A/N:** The flower has truly bloomed.

I was inspired by the writing style of Ayu Ohseki's fic: Strange Places, with the cool shifts in PoVs. I wanted to try it out, so hopefully it turned out well.

Snakey the Snake is my new favorite character! Ssssnake-ity, snake, _snake, SNAKE!_ Does he even count as an OC? I have no idea. What do you think of him? I wanted to try making spirit contracts like those the summon spirits battles in Tales of Symphonia, and this monster sort of happened. Whoops.

Next Chapter: **Answers**


	15. Answers

The door of the abandoned apartment swung open, banging against the wall.

Silhouetted in the door frame, pink hair unkempt and onyx eyes burning wild and manic, was Natsu.

His gaze swept over the room filled with memories, now barren and empty, and onto the letter lying on top of the old writing desk.

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.✧.✦.✧.

_Dear Fairy Tail,_

_I need to go away for a while. Please, please don't do anything stupid. Natsu, Gray, Erza, everyone... None of you deserve this, and you guys didn't do anything wrong. Just, please wait for me. I love you guys. _

_I am going on a journey to find the only remaining person left in my family. I don't know when I am coming back, so please don't search for me. Thank you for everything and I'm sorry._

_\- Lucy H._

.✧.✦.✧.

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**A/N: **This chapter brings back lots of memories... Ugh, I'm super slow at writing. I can type really fast, but it takes me hours just to plan out an entire scene. The worst part is that I start school again in less than 30 days. Anywaaaays, thanks so much for the favorites, follows and reviews- I couldn't have done it without you guys! All the love and support I received in your reviews are reflected in my writing! I love you all and I hope you enjoy! ;D

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**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima does.

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**LIGHT CASTS A SHADOW**

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**Chapter 15: ANSWERS**

The local library had a limited disposal of books, but it was all that the town had to offer. It was comprised of multiple sections, one for children, one for grown-ups, and much more. There were few patrons scattered around, kids and young adults alike, reading books and browsing through interweb lacrimas. Lucy smiled softly to herself as she passed the children playing in the small kid's area. She was heading back to her small base of operations, a fairly-sized table in a quiet corner where she conducted her research. She passed through an aisle of books, until something interesting caught her eye.

_Historic Records of Magnolia._

This looked like a promising lead. Lucy tucked the encyclopedia under her arm. She made her way down the tall aisle of books she was in, until she heard a small commotion at the front desk. The voice sounded very familiar, but she couldn't quite place it. People starting gathering around the entrance, until the head librarian started shushing. The noise quieted down and the small crowd dispersed. Lucy paid it no heed, as she exited out of the aisle, back to her table covered in books.

Lucy put on her Gale-Force reading glasses to quickly scope out any recent events. She was halfway into the book after several minutes, yet there were still no clues or hints about any major happenings in the past seven years. Lucy sped through the pages even faster. She needed answers.

"There you are, Blondie."

Lucy jumped in her seat in surprise and the book fell onto the ground. The surprise made her feel disorientated, resulting her to take off the glasses. She rubbed her head to ward off the incoming migraine and turned around to see... _him_.

Oh.

Oh God.

"You dropped something; it was your standards."

Oh no.

A wave of embarrassment washed over her. She already humiliated herself once in front of the jerk. She looked away from her _boyfriend_, who was now smirking wildly at her.

"A whole week since we started dating, and I don't even get a single 'hello'. Are all bookworms as heartless as you?" He bent down and picked up the historical record she dropped. He glanced at the cover and handed it back to her, which she reluctantly accepted. The arrogant bastard looked exactly the same from the party — still wearing an open vest with a feather-lined boa, revealing his rock hard edges, and — god, the look on his face showed that he was enjoying her discomfort.

"_What_ are you doing here?" She brought her voice down to an angry whisper.

He laughed, "You mean it's all right to sneak into my guild to come visit me, but when I come see you, it's not okay? Hate to say it, but... that really breaks my heart, babe."

Lucy just looked at him skeptically. The nickname at the end really made her hair stand up. She decided to ignore him and opened up to the last page of the encyclopedia she had read to resume her search. She didn't have time for this.

"Fine, I'll just get to the point. I noticed that guild mark on your hand from the other day." He stood behind her, leaning against the table. "You're from Fairy Tail, right? I heard that a bunch of your members returned, including the famous 'Salamander'."

"Natsu?" Lucy looked at him in surprise. "What about him?"

"So he is back... That's great!" He looked ecstatic. If Natsu was back, that meant he could fulfill his promise to Lector. He didn't know why or when promises became so important to him, but he knew that he couldn't let his best friend down.

Under any normal circumstances, Lucy would have been curious. But right now, she wasn't in the mood. "If that's all you came here for, then feel free to leave."

To her dismay, he didn't go away. Instead, he studied the covers of books piled on the table. "_Historic Records of Magnolia_... Blondie, I understand that if you don't learn from history, you're destined to repeat it, but aren't you taking this a little too far?" The sight of all these encyclopedias made him perplexed. How could someone enjoy reading all of these? This was way too tedious. "What are you even trying to find?"

"I'm looking for someone." Lucy's solemn tone surprised him. He didn't miss the pain glimmering in her eyes the next moment, "Someone... very important to me."

She shut the historical record she was reading and moved onto the next one. Lucy felt like she was at a dead end. There had to be some clue in these books about the past—anything that would help her find out about Sting's whereabouts. She _needed_ answers.

"...That's actually really impressive, Blondie."

Lucy let out a sigh. That nickname was too nostalgic. "My name is Lucy, so please stop calling me _Blondie_. Don't you find it weird to call someone 'Blondie' when you're blond too?"

_Crash!_

The towers of books piling over her work were suddenly knocked over. She fumed, _ Just what is his deal? _Forget about his banter and charms, Lucy had just about enough. She was about to snap at the jerk, until she saw him looking visibly shaken up. He looked almost... confused. He was frozen in place, staring at her in a trance.

"Hey..." Lucy called out to him.

He flinched, but was still lapsed in a daze.

"Are you okay?" She gently asked, and this time he locked onto to her gaze.

For a moment he looked lost, but his focus rested on Lucy's face and he visibly relaxed. Then he realized that his hand had slipped, having knocked over the mountains of books in the process. His pupils constricted, "Sorry. My bad," He reached around her and tried organizing the books scattered across the table. "Let... Lemme just—shit, okay," He struggled stacking the books together, but somehow he ended up making the mess even worse.

Lucy shook her head, the corners of her mouth twitching a little. "What are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?" He murmured, no longer meeting her eyes, "I made this mess so I have to clean it up. It's not like I want to, or anything."

She snorted before bursting out in laughter. The head librarian shushed her, earning a small chuckle from beside her. Lucy pushed aside her embarrassment and opened the next document. "Ne, I appreciate your concern, but I already finished those."

"...I'll help you put them away then."

He was silent as he scooped up some books off the table and randomly put them back into some empty spaces in the bookshelves. Lucy didn't even bother to correct him as she already immersed herself back into reading. As she completely shut herself off from the outside world, it took a few minutes for his hands to stop shaking.

.

.

.

The two worked in a companionable silence from then on. Lucy would rapidly take some more books and finish them quickly with her Gale-force reading glasses, and he would put them away. He eventually got reprimanded by the head librarian when he started placing the thick encyclopedias in the small kid's section. When he got back, he could see Lucy speeding through several documents at once.

As time passed, more and more patrons had left. He noticed that they were almost the only ones remaining in the building. He yawned. _This is taking forever. How long is she going to take_—

His thoughts were interrupted when the silence was cut off by a loud grumbling noise.

Lucy's face turned red. Her stomach growled. And it was _looouuud_. She knew that he was watching her. He's been doing that a lot, she noted. When she risked a glance to look at him, he already had his eyes on her and didn't even bother to pretend that he wasn't looking. He had that knowing simper on his face, and she braced herself.

"I was just thinking that you might be hungry," He said, turning his back towards her as he continued putting the books back onto the shelves. "I've been helping you for a few hours, but you've probably been holed up here the entire day. We can go get some food if you're feeling up to it."

Oh. Well, that was a pleasant surprise.

"It's fine. I'm used to it," Lucy said, without thinking.

He went still for a moment, pausing in his movements before speaking, "Used to what? Being hungry?"

Lucy didn't answer him, but he was correct. She ate okay, but that was only when Loke urged her to go get something to eat. Her celestial spirits were able to detect her mental anguish. Finding clues of Sting's whereabouts were most important, so she would naturally spend all her time researching documents. What's wrong with a little hunger when it came to the safety of little Sting?

Lucy jolted when he suddenly threw down all the books onto the table with a powerful thud, earning another shush from the librarian. He looked concerned, yet annoyed, as she found herself being pulled away from her seat.

"Tch." He grit his teeth. His voice was a low grumble, frustrated. "Come on, we're getting something to eat."

.

.

.

It was already night outside by the time they exited the library. He originally planned to leave right after asking about Natsu, but seeing how determined she was in her searchings made him stay. He noticed that her skin seemed a little bit paler from the last time they saw each other. Hunger was no laughing matter, as he used to be used to it too.

What he was going to eat always remained a problem after parting from his dragon. He probably still would have been wandering around aimlessly if he hadn't met Natsu in Hargeon. One of his happiest memories was when they took him to eat at a diner for the first time. There was lots of food and he sat a table with Natsu, Happy, and — wait, there was someone else there too... he was sure of it. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't remember.

Lucy didn't want to leave the library, but the last thing she ate was the food Loke had smuggled from the party. However, the cold night air was invigorating and the chill breeze helped clear her head. The diner that he had pointed out to her wasn't far down the road and she could already feel the warm orange glow of the neon lights. A glance through the window could tell that the place was busy, but not packed. It radiated with a lovely atmosphere.

She peered inside the diner through the glass and—her heart somehow lumped in her throat. She stifled when her eyes fell upon a certain pink-haired Dragon Slayer seated at the bar. Natsu was digging through large plates of food, finishing platter after platter with a content smile on his face. Beside him was Happy, eagerly munching on a fish.

_What are THEY doing here!? _Lucy internally screamed. Her face instantly paled as she ducked away from the window. At the same time, Natsu looked back outside to find no one standing there. That was strange; he felt like someone was watching him. _Huh, weird._ Natsu shrugged it off and went back to eating.

"...What are you doing?" He peered at her with a questioning look.

In her panic, Lucy hugged his gloved arm and dragged him down to the ground with her. She didn't realize how close his face was, and when she did, she quickly let go of him and scooted away a couple good feet. She nervously laughed, "Yeah... I, uh, I saw a bug and wanted you to kill it." Pause. "But it turned out to be a rock and I fell down because it looked so pretty."

He just stared at her. Even she would be face palming at her own reasoning, but she would rather avoid people from her guild at the moment. They were definitely looking for her, weren't they? That wasn't a question. Even when she told them specifically _not_ to go look for her, it was really upsetting that they would flat out ignore her request like this. It was a mistake to get her hopes up.

He sighed, "You lie about as well as I like reading books."

Lucy rolled her eyes, "That's either a really nice compliment or a snappy insult."

"I don't like reading books."

Savage. "Look, I'm sort of avoiding someone right now, so I _really _don't want to go in there."

That got his attention. _She's avoiding someone?_ "Really? Who?" He stood up to look through the window.

"NO!"

Lucy tackled him away from the window. She hoped she wasn't too loud; Natsu had ridiculously good hearing. When she sneaked a glance to find the Dragon Slayer still eating, she let out a relieved sigh. She got up and tried to ignore what happened. "Thank you for everything. I wouldn't have gotten as much done if it weren't for your help earlier. I really appreciate you taking me out to eat, but really, I'm fine." She said in a prim tone, turning around to leave, "I had fun. Really. I just need to go on a little walk to help clear my head..."

"All right. I'll come with you."

"Eh?" Lucy became flustered. She thought she was being perfectly clear, "Uh, ha, ok, for the record, I kind of want to be alone right now."

"When was the last time you ate?" He stood taller than her, staring down at her without compromise. Her voice died down, whatever whiny protest she had was lodged in her throat. His words pierced through her, "Are you going to study in the library until some kid finds you passed out? As much as I'd love to see that happen, I'm not leaving you alone until I see you eat something."

He left no room for argument. The sooner she ate something, the sooner he would leave, right? She'd keep that in mind, "Fine."

Lucy made a detour through the park, and he casually strolled behind her with his hands inside his pockets. The heated tension between the two of them quickly turned into an awkward silence with just the sound of just the sound of their footsteps and the running of water. She would have enjoyed the flowers blooming in the night, or the beautiful fountain showcased in the center of the garden, but she was too annoyed being tailed by him.

She hoped that he would leave once he got bored, but that didn't seem to be the case. She sneaked another glance at him to find him looking back at her expectedly. This stroll wasn't going anywhere. Lucy had nothing to say to him, so she stomped up ahead and took in a deep breath of the night air. Vibrant colors filled the park and helped soothe her a bit. He was silently tagging along, until she suddenly got distracted.

"Ice cream!" Lucy announced, pointing to the ice cream stand around the corner.

"You want ice cream?" He asked incredulously.

She nodded, totally bullshitting it now. "Yeah, I'm just really in the mood for some ice cream right now."

Ice cream, yes, it was the perfect distraction! Okay, so it wasn't very filling, but at least it was better than nothing! The sooner they ate something, the sooner he would leave her alone. Yeah, she'd just eat some ice cream, and then—

"Gray-sama, which flavor do you want?"

"Let's see..."

Lucy instantly froze, recognizing the voices up ahead. Her face paled and she quickly backtracked several steps. When she saw a certain blue-haired water mage cuddling the arm of an irritated ice mage, Lucy wanted to pull her hair out. She quickly spun around on her heel, "Actually, I'm not in the mood for ice cream anymore!"

"Seriously?" He eyed her suspiciously, but followed her nonetheless.

.

.

.

Lucy was hopeless. It was only a matter of time before someone from her guild would eventually find her. How many of them were in this town anyway? She helplessly wandered around the park, finally stopping above a creek at the center of a bridge. "Let's stop here."

She rested her elbows on the bridge's stone railing and looked up at the sky. Despite how poorly everything turned out, the moon shone brighter than ever. He stood beside her and gazed up at the stars. "It's pretty tonight."

"Yeah..." She said halfheartedly. She wondered if Sting was looking up at the sky right now, like she was. Just thinking about how he was doing made her feel uneasy. Running a hand through her hair, she tried to come up with some answers. None came. She had no information. No solutions. Her search at the library was uneventful as she still didn't manage to find a single lead.

Maybe going on this adventure was a huge waste of time after all.

Instead, she bent over and picked up a flat stone, flinging it horizontally toward the stream. It made zero skips with a plop and sunk down into the water... just like her hope. Her rock-skipping skills seriously sucked. She quickly grew depressed with her circumstances.

"Did you ever find what you were looking for earlier?" He suddenly asked.

Lucy realized she had been silent this whole time, and this might be his way of dragging out a conversation. She didn't really feel like talking, but it wasn't like she's been getting anywhere with her thoughts anyway. She replied slowly, "No... It was just a waste of time."

They both looked out onto the creek. He picked up a rock, like she had done earlier. He threw it with ease, and it skipped along the water several times. Her stone didn't even manage to skip once. When he saw her expression, he couldn't help but laugh.

"If it's you, then I'm sure you'll come up with an answer."

She looked at him in surprise. 'What makes you think that?"

He rubbed the back of his neck, turning to her. "Well you've been working yourself real hard this whole time. Hell, I wouldn't be able to stand doing something boring like being holed up in a library all day." He said seriously, "I believe in you, so don't give up. Someday you'll look back and be glad that you didn't."

_Is he trying to cheer me up?_ Lucy was touched. She found him extremely arrogant and irritating at first, but he surprisingly had this sweet side to him. She's probably been a jerk to him all day, but he helped her and kept her company even when he didn't have to. She felt sort of guilty. He was looking out for her this whole time, and yet, she didn't even know what to call him.

"...Hey." A small smile formed on her face, "What's your name?"

He blinked at her question. He completely forgot that he still hadn't introduced himself after all this time. "I'm Sting... Sting Eucliffe."

* * *

"...Sting?" Lucy took a sharp intake of breath." Is it really you?"

When she froze and gawked at him, he had an irresistible urge to smirk. Did she finally realize his greatness? There wasn't a single person in Fiore who wouldn't be able to recognize his name! He was filled with pride, "The one and only. Did it really take you this long to figure out who I was?" He said jokingly, "You may look smart with all those books, but you really are just a dumb Blondi—"

His whole demeanor dropped when she suddenly put her hand onto the side of his face. Lucy looked deep into his ocean blue eyes and found a shocking resemblance. Her fingers unconsciously brushed the small scar above his right eye. It was him. Before, Sting was a scrawny thin boy living without a home. Now he was this tall handsome stud with a ridiculously oversized-ego? She wouldn't have believed it, but it was _really_ him.

The world's greatest pain was when you obtained your ultimate accomplishment, but the person you wanted to share it with was no longer around. In Lucy's case, it was the moment she joined Fairy Tail without him.

That was an extreme loneliness.

Without a word, she hugged him tightly. She was afraid that the moment she released him, he would disappear. Tears ran down her face, and her throat tightened, but by some miracle her voice was still clear enough to speak.

"I...I finally found you."


	16. Lost And Found

~PREVIOUSLY ON THE LAST CHAPTER~

_The world's greatest pain was when you obtained your ultimate accomplishment, but the person you wanted to share it with was no longer around. In Lucy's case, it was the moment she joined Fairy Tail without him._

_That was an extreme loneliness._

_Without a word, she hugged him tightly. She was afraid that the moment she released him, he would disappear. Tears ran down her face, and her throat tightened, but by some miracle her voice was still clear enough to speak._

_"I...I finally found you."_

* * *

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima does.

* * *

**LIGHT CASTS A SHADOW**

* * *

**Chapter 16: LOST AND FOUND**

"I thought I'd never see you again," Lucy murmured softly. "I was looking everywhere for you... Do you have any idea how much I was worried about you!?" She burst with anger and relief, but she held back a sob and her features softened. "I don't know why you left us before, but you have to talk to me next time, okay? I trust you, but if you had _died_ on your little adventure, I'd never be able to forgive myself. I'm just... I'm just so glad you're all right."

Lucy gripped the fur-trimmed edges of Sting's vest like her life depended on it. She stood there not wanting to let go, hoping that this could maybe come a little close to placating all the frozen time she had lost from the Tenroujima incident.

"I'm sorry for disappearing on you. It won't happen again... I_ promise._"

—_**A celestial spirit mage never breaks her promises!**_

Sting stood perfectly still. The moment that Lucy threw her arms around him, a familiar tenderness started surfacing. It was exactly the same as the wistful sensation he experienced in the library. Brief remnants of the past, emotions from forgotten moments — it had all suddenly surged up. A tidal wave of warmth waged against the empty chill in his mind.

_Never apologize. Trust no one._

**Are you okay? Were you hurt badly?**

_I DON'T need anyone's pity._

**Treat other people with **_**respect.**_

_Stupid Blondie..._

**You don't have a home, do you?**

_I've __always__ been alone. _

**So what's your name?**

_Don't get attached._

**Did you run away too?**

_I don't deserve this kindness._

**You should go back to your parents.**

_I... I killed him._

_**You're not alone anymore!**_

His thoughts were spiraling out of control and only became worse when the warmth of the memories started slipping away. The gnawing chill came back in full force and ushered itself into a splitting headache.

**Don't know her, but I should. **_it hurts... so familiar, blonde hair _**FairyTail**_. _Can't remember. Tried before, _Couldn't. I__**t **_**h**urts_. __Is sh__**e **__the on__**e f**__rom the flashbacks__? _Lucy is—_ why cAN__'t I__—__what am__—_

"Sting?"

Lucy's hesitant voice broke into the maelstrom of Sting's thoughts. The pain was becoming unbearable and he frantically grabbed at the source of the sound, using it to anchor himself.

"It feels like it was only yesterday when you were still a little brat. So much has changed that sometimes, I forget that seven years really have gone by..." Her tone was a bit somber and her gaze became distant, but he didn't notice when she pulled away and rubbed the back of her neck, "I mean, just look at you; I hardly even recognized you! You used to be a little kid, and now it's just—it's just so weird to see you all grown up." She smiled at the last part, her eyes glassy with tears. "You're taller than me now too."

Sting regarded her with a strange expression, not only hard to read, but hard to make out in the moonlight. A memory of someone's voice rang through his head, and it took him a moment to respond.

"Who are you?"

It felt as though the world had stopped, and at once, Lucy's relieved smile fell.

"What? _Why_ would you—" She cut herself off, frowned, and shook her head. "Is _this_ a joke?" The small shock was apparent in her voice, "Because if it is, it really isn't funny." After a short silence, she glared at him, "I'm serious, Sting. Knock it off."

He raised his eyebrows, looking taken aback, "What are you talking about?"

She seemed so familiar, and at the same time, she was a complete total stranger. And now she was acting like they've known each other for years? All this crap was making the tension in his head a whole lot worse and he wondered if she was doing this all on damn purpose.

"Have we met before?" Sting made a frustrated noise, running his hand through his hair. "I dunno what game you're trying to play here, but you're confusing me with someone else."

Lucy continued to stare hard at Sting with a dazed expression. A war between anger and sorrow raged across her face. Upset that he was acting this way, and crestfallen by the genuine look of confusion he had. Tears of frustration budded in her eyes. She then looked down at her balled hands and shook her head.

"You really... don't remember me?"

The wind howled softly between the two of them, and for once, Sting couldn't find the right words to say.

"When we first met, you were caught by thugs and I tried to save you. But when I showed up, you were the one who saved me." She wanted to laugh at the irony, but the way he scrunched his eyebrows disheartened her. "You were all alone with no where to go and I took care of you. We met Natsu and we planned on joining Fairy Tail... together." He was so—so inscrutable, it frustrated her to no end. "You were leery and distrustful of others, and it was hard to get used to at first, but you finally opened up to us. We sort of became like a... like a _family_." The tone of her voice was _hurt_ when the realization sunk in. "You... don't remember."

The throbbing in his head was beginning to drown out her voice. Sting could only shake his head and mumble a numb apology, "I'm sorry."

It hurt deep down to think that Sting thought so little of her when she disappeared, that he was unable to remember a single thing about her. Lucy grew up loving him like the younger brother she never had. It struck a heavy blow to her heart when he couldn't even manage to look her in the eyes. Maybe... there was more to the reason why he decided run away from them in the first place.

She initially wanted to make sure Sting was okay, then hopefully catch up a bit, and become friends again. Maybe find out why he left as a bonus. In the end, she discovered that he was doing just fine—healthy even. With the original purpose of her trek accomplished, she had no more reason to be here. He didn't even know her, and perhaps... she didn't know him quite that well either.

"I guess this is it then?" When he made no indication of moving and a brief silence filled the air, Lucy lifted a hand in a half-hearted wave before turning on her heel. "Bye."

.

.

.

When Sting saw her walking away, he was conflicted. Shit, he couldn't lose her now—especially not after he realized that _she_ was the catalyst that triggered his forgotten memories! Just being with her was the closest thing he had to unlocking his past! He tried to reach out and grab her hand, but the sudden jolt of pain in the back of his skull restricted his movement.

An unsettling feeling bubbled inside him. Watching her go, the lurching in his chest could only be described as... sadness? His life was plagued with rage and hostility, but he hadn't experienced this feeling in years. Even when he lost his dragon, his heart didn't break.

It _couldn't_.

He lost it, along with his memories. He watched her leave, and his body suddenly jerked in excruciating pain. He brought his hands up to his face, trying to quell the raging magic inside—a miniature dragon made of light dangerously struggling to break free. An inhuman, wretched roar suddenly tore through the air. Sting almost didn't realize that it was coming from him. A beam of white light shot from his mouth and erupted towards the starry night sky.

The agony subdued when a wave of confusion and exhaustion swept over him.

What? _Where?_ Why was he in the middle of the park? How the hell did he end up here? He surveyed the surroundings and caught the fleeing sight of Lucy nearing the entrance of the garden. He noted how she was in a hurry and the way she concealed her eyes with her arm. She seemed to be... crying? A part of him was torn and wanted to go up and comfort her.

Sting shook away his thoughts and scowled. It didn't matter. Why would he of all people be concerned?

He never saw her before in his entire life.

* * *

**A/N: **uh... Tfw dragon lacrimas wipe away all the memories of the one person you loved and strived to get stronger for. AmIrightguys? #Relatable

Ok, seriously though, sorry if this was very short and depressing. I had planned it to be like this a long time ago, but moments like this will bring change, progress, and hope. I write for the sake of plot! (･ - ･)و

Btw, your reviews had me smiling throughout the week. I love hearing your thoughts and reactions, and it just makes me a happy little ball of sunshine. _Otaku-neesan_ made me giggle. Thanks for following and favoriting... pssst reviews are _very_ inspiring! ;D


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